Rhinology, 41, 44-48, 2003 * Received for publication: July 15, 2002; accepted: October 10, 2002 INTRODUCTION Paranasal sinus tumours comprise of 0.2-0.5% of all cancer cases and 3% of all cases of head and neck carcinoma and the majority of patients have locally advanced tumours at diagnosis due to nonspecific symptoms. Treatment of these tumours include either surgery, radiotherapy, combined surgery and pre- or post- operative radiotherapy. These modalities have also been com- bined with local or systemic chemotherapy (Tsuji et al., 1986; Karim et al., 1990; Giri et al., 1992; Sakata et al., 1993; Waldron et al., 2000). Despite the introduction of better imaging (CT and MRI) and surgical techniques it is not possible to remove the tumour with adequate margins even if total excision is per- formed so adjuvant radiotherapy is mandatory (Tsuji et al., 1986; Karim et al., 1990; Dilhuydy et al. 1993; Stern et al., 1996; Paulino et al., 1998; Le et al., 1999; Jansen et al., 2000; Waldron et al., 2000). Better local control may have a high impact on long term survival for the maxillary sinus carcinomas. Survival rate is between 30% and 60% (Paulino et al., 1998; Le et al., 1999; Jansen et al., 2000; Waldron et al., 2000). The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome in patients with maxillary sinus carcinoma following radiotherapy alone or combined with surgery and to assses the prognostic factors influencing local control and survival. MATERIALS AND METHODS Patients Records of 79 patients with maxillary sinus carcinoma who received radiotherapy during January 1983 and December 1996 were evaluated retrospectively. Fifty-two patients (65.8%) were male and 27 (34.2%) were female. Median age was 57 years (range, 28-88 years). Histologic distribution was as follows: epidermoid carcinoma in 49 Purpose: The aim of this study is to evaluate the outcome of patients with maxillary sinus carcinoma after radiotherapy regarding local control, prognostic factors and morbidity of treatment. Materials and Methods: Between January 1983 and December 1996, 79 cases of maxillary sinus carcinoma without any evidence of distant metastases, were treated with radiotherapy. Results: Fifty-two patients (65.8%) were male and 27 (34.2%) were female. The median age was 57. Histologically 62% were epidermoid carcinoma, 32.9% were non-epidermoid carcino- ma and 5.1% were unclassified. Sixteen patients (20.5%) had T2, 25 (29.8%) had T3 and 38 (49.7%) had T4 tumour while 13 patients (16.5%) had lymph node metastases. Fifty-nine patients (74.4%) underwent surgical resection followed by postoperative radiotherapy and 20 patients (25.3%) received radiotherapy alone. The median follow-up was 71 months; 5-year overall survival and local control rates were 53% and 54% respectively. Prognostic factors influencing the overall survival were histologic type (epidermoid carcinoma, p=0.02), advanced T stage (p=0.04), postoperative residual tumour (p=0.002) and lymph node involvement (p=0.01) whereas the factors influencing local control were histologic type (p=0.05) and postoperative residual tumour (p=0.005). Late radiation morbidity were cataract (11.4%), loss of vision (8.9%), trismus (5.1%) and hearing loss (2.5%). Conclusion: In maxillary sinus carcinomas high rates of local control can be achieved with surgery and radiotherapy. Postoperative radiotherapy can have a positive impact on local control and overall survival especially in patients with early stage tumour of non-epidermoid histology and without residual disease after surgery. Key words: maxillary sinus carcinoma, radiotherapy, prognostic factors SUMMARY Radiotherapy in maxillary sinus carcinomas: evaluation of 79 cases* Zeynep Özsaran 1 , Deniz Yalman 1 , Bahar Baltalarlı 2 , Yavuz Anacak 1 , Mustafa Esassolak 1 , Ayfer Haydaroglu 1 1 Ege University Faculty of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology, Izmir, Turkey 2 Pamukkale University Faculty of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology, Denizli, Turkey (