The role of radiation therapy in inverted papilloma of the nasal cavity and paranasal sinuses.

Between December 1969 and March 1985, seven patients with advanced biologically aggressive inverted or cylindrical cell papillomas were treated with irradiation at the University of Florida. Three patients were treated with radiation therapy alone, and four patients were irradiated either before (one patient) or after (three patients) resection. No recurrences were observed in six patients at 4.5, 7, 8, 8, 9, and 20 years following treatment (including two who died of intercurrent disease at 7 and 9 years after radiation therapy without evidence of recurrent tumor). One patient treated with irradiation alone for an advanced recurrent papilloma developed a local recurrence extending into the frontal lobe of the brain and died 17 months after radiation therapy. None of the patients experienced a significant complication of irradiation. Although surgery is generally the primary treatment modality for this disease, radiation therapy should be considered for patients with advanced, incompletely resected, or unresectable lesions.