Salvage surgery for a locally persistent or recurrent tumour in maxillary cancer patients who have undergone radiotherapy and concomitant intra-arterial cisplatin: implications for surgical margin assessment.

Limited information about salvage surgery is available for locally persistent and recurrent maxillary sinus cancers after the completion of chemoradiation therapy. Seventy-six maxillary sinus cancer patients who had undergone chemoradioselection using initial radiotherapy and concomitant intra-arterial cisplatin were screened retrospectively. Twenty-four of these patients who had a locally persistent or recurrent tumour were investigated. The 2-year overall survival rate of patients with maxillary sinus cancer of all types was 39.0% for those who underwent salvage surgery and 10.0% for those who did not. The 2-year overall survival rate of patients with maxillary sinus squamous cell carcinoma was 45.8% for those who underwent salvage surgery and 11.1% for those who did not. Furthermore, the 2-year local control and overall survival rates of patients with positive and negative surgical margins were 14.3% and 83.3% and 14.3% and 66.7%, respectively. There were significant differences in local control (P=0.004) and overall survival (P=0.005) regarding surgical margin status. Although salvage surgery for a locally persistent or recurrent maxillary sinus cancer is a feasible treatment, patients with positive surgical margins are more prone to local relapse. Therefore, surgical safety margins should be assessed thoroughly.