Malignant tumors of the sinonasal cavities are rare and often diagnosed late in the course of the disease. These tumors can extend into regions such as the orbit and brain, where treatment is difficult. Ten patients with nontreated sinonasal malignant neoplasms and radiological evidence of tumor extension into the orbit and brain were studied with computed tomography. Five (50%) tumors were epithelial neoplasms whereas squamous cell carcinoma was the most common type (3 cases). The ethmoidal sinus was the most common site of origin of the tumors (40%), followed by the maxillary sinus (30%) and nasal cavity (30%). A total of 16 orbits were involved since 6 patients (60%) had bilateral orbital involvement. The tumors extended more often into the orbits through erosion of the medial and inferior orbital bones. All orbital compartments were involved in the majority of the orbits. Tumoral extension into the cranial cavity was more common through the ethmoidal (70%) and orbital roof (30%). The anterior cranial fossa was involved in 8 cases (80%), followed by the medial cranial fossa (40%) and frontal lobe (excluding the anterior fossa) (30%). Thirty-seven regions of the face, other that the site of tumor origin, orbits and cranial cavity, were involved by the 10 tumors, indicating the extensive loco-regional disease at the time of diagnosis.
Sinonasal malignant tumors; Orbital invasion; Cranial invasion; Computed tomography
