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Objective: Risk of nodal involvement in patients with sinonasal small-cell carcinoma and sinonasal undifferentiated carcinoma (SNUC) has not been well defined because of their rarity. We describe a population-based assessment of specific nodal level involvement in this group of rare neuroectodermal tumours. Methods: The Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database from 2004 to 2011 identified patients with SNUC and sinonasal small-cell carcinoma. Overall neck involvement and individual nodal level involvement at presentation were assessed, and comparison was made with a contemporaneous cohort of patients with a borderline clinically significant risk of nodal involvement and recurrence. Results: Of 141 patients, 31 (22%) had gross nodal involvement at presentation (range 14-33% by site and histology). Non-nasal, non-ethmoid site with SNUC histology has the highest rates of initial nodal involvement, whereas higher stage and size do not predict for higher nodal involvement rates. Bilateral Levels 2-3 for all sinonasal small cell; Levels 2-3 for nasal or ethmoid SNUC; and bilateral Levels 1-3 in non-nasal/non-ethmoid SNUC have the highest rates of involvement compared with a clinical reference standard. Conclusion: We found high rates of initial nodal involvement in all SNUC and sinonasal small-cell carcinoma. We found higher initial involvement of Levels 2 and 3 and in certain cases to the Level 1 nodal levels, hypothesizing benefit for elective treatment to those levels. Advances in knowledge: With small single-institution series reporting conflicting nodal involvement rates, our data support high rates of nodal presentation at diagnosis, hypothesizing benefit for elective nodal treatment in this cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One approach to reduce treatment-related morbidity for human papilloma virus (HPV)-associated tonsil cancer is omitting radiotherapy to the contralateral neck. Pathologic risk factors for early contralateral neck disease, however, are poorly understood. We report on the risk contralateral neck failures from the time of pre-operative diagnostic imaging to time of planning for adjuvant radiation in a single institution series of HPV-associated tonsillar cancer patients undergoing surgery followed by radiotherapy (RT). Retrospective analysis of 123 patients with T1–T3 HPV-positive tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma treated between 2010 and 2016 with transoral robotic surgery and selective ipsilateral neck dissection followed by adjuvant RT. Contralateral neck recurrence was classified as the detection of a pathologic node in the contralateral neck prior to initiation of adjuvant RT. Seven patients (5.7%) developed contralateral neck disease/failure between the time of pre-operative diagnostic neck imaging and time of planning of adjuvant radiation. Increased ratio of positive/resected nodes [odds ratio (OR) 1.073, p = 0.005] was significantly associated with increased risk of contralateral neck recurrence, with a trend found for close/positive margins (OR 5.355, p = 0.06), tumor size (OR 2.046, p = 0.09), and total number of nodes positive (OR 1.179, p = 0.062). Patients who develop very early contralateral neck disease, between completion of ipsilateral neck dissection and the initiation of radiotherapy, have a higher ratio of positive nodes to total nodes resected in the ipsilateral neck. These findings suggest that proper selection of patients for omission of treatment of the contralateral, node-negative neck should be made with this in mind, with future studies needed to document the impact on toxicity and disease outcomes from such an approach. Pathologic risk factors in the dissected, ipsilateral neck in patients with tonsil cancer may inform the risk of contralateral neck failure. Patient selection for future, prospective efforts to examine sparing of the contralateral neck need to be based with these risk factors in mind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]