Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Nasal Vestibule: A Multi-Centric Observational Cohort Study

ObjectivesSquamous cell carcinoma of the nasal vestibule (NV-SCC) is a rare but challenging entity, due to the complex anatomy of the region. Consensus on the best treatment strategy is still lacking, as well as a dedicated staging system. Our aim was to analyze oncological outcomes of surgically treated patients and to investigate possible prognostic factors.MethodsWe performed a retrospective multi-centric observational study including six Academic Hospitals over a 10-year period, including only patients who underwent upfront surgery for primary NV-SCC. Patients were staged according to all currently available staging systems. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to compute overall, disease-free, and disease-specific survival. Logistic regression models were used to correlate between survival outcomes and clinical and pathological variables.ResultsSeventy-one patients with a median follow-up of 38 months were included in the study. Partial and total rhinectomy were the most commonly performed procedures, respectively, in 49.3% and 25.4% of cases. Neck dissection was performed on 31% of patients, and 45.1% of them underwent adjuvant radiotherapy. Three years overall, disease-specific and disease-free survival were, respectively, 86.5%, 90.3%, and 74.2%. None of the currently available staging systems were able to effectively stratify survival outcomes. Factors predicting lower overall survival on multivariate analysis were age (p = 0.021) and perineural invasion (p = 0.059), whereas disease-free survival was negatively affected by age (p = 0.033) and lymphovascular invasion (p = 0.019).ConclusionCurrently available staging systems cannot stratify prognosis for patients who underwent surgery for NV-SCC.Level of Evidence4 Laryngoscope, 2023 Squamous cell carcinoma of the nasal vestibule is a rare but challenging entity. Consensus on the best treatment strategy is still lacking, as well as a dedicated staging system. We performed a retrospective multi-center observational study including six Academic Hospitals over a 10-year period. Seventy-one patients were enrolled. Three years overall, disease-specific and disease-free survival were, respectively, 86.5%, 90.3%, and 74.2%. Currently available staging systems cannot stratify prognosis.image