Articles

A 54-year old patient with olfactory neuroblastoma, best way to treat?

BJMO - volume 10, issue 2, april 2016

B. Dekeyser MD, M. Haagdorens MD, I. Deleu MD, E. Van Hul MD, E. Beerens MD, D. Van der Planken MD, K. Hendrickx MD, L. Verstraeten MD, Y. Geussens MD, W. Lybaert MD

Summary

A 54-year old man presented with a new-onset headache, phonophobia, tinnitus, blurred vision, and nausea. Further imaging and histological examination confirmed the diagnosis of an olfactory neuroblastoma. Olfactory neuroblastoma or esthesioneuroblastoma is a rare type of cancer, originating from the basal stem cells of the olfactory epithelium in the nasal cavity. The patient received a maximal possible surgical resection of the tumour, followed by adjuvant chemo-irradiation. Given the absence of neck metastases, no prophylactic treatment of the neck was done. Recent studies state that standard treatment of esthe-sioneuroblastoma consists of surgical resection, followed by local radiotherapy. Adjuvant chemotherapy is recommended for the locally advanced tumours. As for the treatment of the neck, current consensus is to perform salvage therapy when neck metastases are present.

(BELG J MED ONCOL 2016;10(2):69–72)

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