Our experience with sinonasal spindle cell variant of squamous-cell carcinoma: presentation of 2 cases and literature review

Spindle cell carcinoma (SpSCC) is a rare variant of squamous-cell carcinoma, concerning less than 3% of head and neck malignancies. SpSCC confined to the nasal cavity is even less frequently encountered, and there are only few case reports described. We present 2 cases of SpSCC of the nose and paranasal sinuses treated at our department in the past 5 years. The first case is of a 66-year-old man with sinonasal SpSCC, who presented with recurrent epistaxis from a mass confined to the left nasal cavity. Endoscopic excision of the mass was performed. The histopathological report showed a mixed tumor, mainly described as SpSCC. The second case is of an 82-year-old man who also presented with epistaxis. An exophytic mass originating from the anterior part of the nasal septum was discovered. The pathology report showed a diagnosis of SpSCC variant, and excision of the mass by means of lateral rhinotomy was performed. After 7 months of the operation, a metastatic lymph node at the ipsilateral neck was discovered, and the patient was subjected to lateral neck dissection and postoperative radiotherapy. In both cases, no evidence of residual or recurrent disease has been detected 2 years and 3 months post-treatment, respectively.