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The developing management of esthesioneuroblastoma: a single institution experience

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Abstract

Esthesioneuroblastoma remains a challenging disease because of its rarity, the complexity of surrounding structures, missing opinions of optimal treatment protocol, and complications associated with necessary surgery. Our objective was to analyse the management and outcome of a cohort of patients with esthesioneuroblastoma from 1990 to 2009 in a tertiary medical centre. There were 17 eligible patients (8 males and 9 females) with the median age of 53 years (range 20–75 years). An obvious inconsistency was noted in the management of the various tumours of the present series during the two decades due to a lack of a uniform treatment protocol. The median follow-up time was 57.5 months (range 3–158 months). Nine patients (seven with curative treatment intent) died of the disease with the median time from diagnosis to death of 60 months (range 3–161 months). Eight patients had no evidence of the disease at last follow-up visit (median 76 months, range 24–119 months). Recurrences were documented in seven of the patients. The median time from end of primary treatment to a recurrence was 57 months (range 6–110 months). The 5-year overall survival and disease-free survival was 68 and 62%, respectively. The management of ENB should be planned by an experienced head and neck surgeon as part of a multidisciplinary team in a tertiary referral setting. Multimodality therapy with long-term follow-up is preferable and should be set based on the available disease-specific classifications for clinical staging and histopathological grading.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Helsinki University Central Hospital Research Fund, Helsinki, Finland.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH), University of Helsinki, P.O. Box 220, 00029, Helsinki, Finland

    Leif Bäck, Petra Pietarinen-Runtti & Antti A. Mäkitie

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Minna Oinas & Mika Niemelä

  3. Department of Oncology, Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Kauko Saarilahti

  4. Department of Plastic Surgery, Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Jyrki Vuola

  5. Department of Radiology, Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Riste Saat

  6. Department of Neurosurgery, Tampere University Central Hospital, Tampere, Finland

    Juha Öhman

  7. Department of Surgery, Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Caj Haglund

  8. Department of Pathology, Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH), University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

    Ilmo Leivo & Jaana Hagström

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  1. Leif Bäck
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Correspondence to Leif Bäck.

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Bäck, L., Oinas, M., Pietarinen-Runtti, P. et al. The developing management of esthesioneuroblastoma: a single institution experience. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 269, 213–221 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-011-1568-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-011-1568-0

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