Treatments

At Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, each cancer has a wide range of treatments that can be used alone or in combination to give the best outcome for your specific cancer, including standard therapies and novel therapies only available in clinical trials. That’s why careful diagnosis is so important.

Paranasal sinus and nasal cavity cancers are more challenging to treat than laryngeal cancers. Early symptoms are not typical. Most paranasal sinus and nasal cavity cancers get diagnosed at advanced stages. These tumors spread more often to the lymph nodes. Patients do not usually notice any growth in their neck. Because of this, treatment of the lymph nodes in the neck is often recommended.

Treatments for these cancers include:

  • Surgery

    Surgeons remove a tumor from the head and neck region and remove lymph nodes containing cancerous cells. Smaller tumors have less negative impact on your speech, swallowing and daily living. Types of surgery include:

    • Endoscopic Sinus Surgery: This newer approach keeps more healthy tissue intact than traditional surgery. Your surgeon will make a small incision in which to insert a thin, telescope-like tube into the nasal cavity or sinus. Endoscopic sinus surgery for non-cancerous sinusitis often leads to finding cancer. 

    • Maxillectomy: This surgery removes part or all of the hard palate, the bony roof of the mouth. Artificial prostheses or flaps of soft tissue can be used by your surgical team to fill gaps left by this operation.

    • Craniofacial Resection/Skull Base Surgery: This is an extensive surgery. Your surgeon will remove more tissue than a maxillectomy. A Sylvester neurosurgeon and head and neck surgeon often work together to ensure your best success.

  • Radiation Therapy

    Radiation therapy is often combined with surgery, either before or after the operation, or with chemotherapy, to treat many cases of paranasal sinus and nasal cavity cancers.

    • Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy(IMRT): You benefit from Sylvester's experience as a leader in treating head and neck cancers with IMRT. This is an advanced form of external beam radiation therapy. Radiation specialists will shape radiation doses to the exact three-dimensional size of your tumor. The precise control and flexibility help to reduce the amount of radiation going to surrounding healthy tissue.

    • Internal Radiation Therapy:
      Brachytherapy is another name for this procedure. Tiny pellets, "seeds" or rods containing radioactive material get inserted inside or near the tumor. They deliver the radiation dose exactly where it needs to go. More radiation can be steered to the tumor than in external beam radiation therapy. This treatment requires several days of an inpatient stay.

    Chemotherapy

    The high level of experience of Sylvester’s medical oncology team allows our physicians to choose and deliver the most advanced chemotherapy approaches, often before they become available in the community. Your doctor may prescribe chemotherapy before or after surgery. He or she may combine chemotherapy with radiation therapy to try and avoid surgery. Chemotherapy drugs used for head and neck cancers do not usually make you lose your hair.

    Intravenous (infusion) chemotherapy is available at the Comprehensive Treatment Unit (CTU) at Sylvester's Miami location — a 12,000-square-foot unit that includes 33 recliners and 11 private rooms. If you prefer, you may have your infusion treatments at the Deerfield Beach, Plantation, Hollywood, Coral Springs, Coral Gables, and Kendall locations.