Prognostic factors in sinonasal sarcomas: analysis of the surveillance, epidemiology and end result database.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Sinonasal sarcomas are rare and often aggressive malignant tumors. Although tumor histology and location are the only reported prognostic indicators for this disease, we sought to determine if additional clinical factors might influence patient survival.

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study using a national cancer database.

METHODS: Cases of sinonasal sarcomas from 1973 to 2008 were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Result (SEER) database. The influence of patient age, gender, race, and prior irradiation, as well as tumor histology and subsite, was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method.

RESULTS: A total of 352 patients with sinonasal sarcomas were identified. Histologic subtype, tumor location, gender, and patient age were found to influence patient survival. Specifically, increased age, male sex, frontal and maxillary sinus subsites, and rhabdomyosarcoma and Kaposi sarcoma histologies were associated with a significant increase in mortality rate (P < .05).

CONCLUSIONS: This study comprises the largest analysis of patients with sinonasal sarcoma in the literature and demonstrates the impact of patient age, tumor histology, and tumor location on the overall survival of individuals with these rare malignancies.