The maxillary sinuses, which lie beneath your cheeks on either side of your nose, are the site of the rare kind of cancer known as maxillary sinus cancer.
Only a tiny percentage of all head and neck cancers are paranasal sinus tumours, making them an uncommon type of cancer. However, the majority of those tumours start inside the maxillary sinuses.
You might experience facial pain, nasal discharge, or blockage, as well as a diminished sense of smell, with this illness. The malignancy of the maxillary sinus can spread fast to other regions of your body if surgery, chemotherapy, or radiation therapy are not used.
More information on maxillary sinus cancer, including its causes, symptoms, and treatment choices, may be found in this article. You should consult a healthcare provider about your options.
What is maxillary sinus cancer?
The most prevalent kind of paranasal sinus cancer is maxillary sinus carcinoma. Your maxillary sinuses are the source of maxillary sinus carcinoma.
The maxillary sinuses are located above your teeth but below your cheekbones, one on each side of your nose. They have three chambers and a pyramidal form. Here's where you can read more about them.
Despite starting in the maxillary sinuses, maxillary sinus cancer can spread to other parts of the body, including the brain. It can be lethal, particularly if untreated.
What are the symptoms of maxillary sinus cancer?
Here are a few possible signs of sinus cancer:
- nosebleeds
- headaches
- blood-filled mucous oozing from your nose
- a reduction in your ability to smell
- feeling as though your nose is blocked on one side
- mucous dribbling down your neck
Advanced sinus cancer symptoms can include:
- swollen glands
- a bulging or watery eye
- discomfort in one ear
- tingling or soreness in the area surrounding your upper cheek
- visible growth of bumps on your face
- difficulty seeing, such as double or diminished eyesight
What causes this sinus cancer?
There are several potential causes of maxillary sinus cancer, including genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors.
An increased risk of sinus cancer could exist if you:
- are assigned male at birth
- smoke
- are subjected to environmental pollutants, wood dust, and leather dust at work
- possess the HPV (human papillomavirus)
At what age do people develop maxillary sinus cancer?
Although maxillary sinus cancer can strike anyone at any age, people 55 years of age or over account for 80% of cases of nasal and sinus cancer.
Men in their 50s and 60s are most frequently diagnosed with sinus cancer.
Is this benign or malignant cancer?
Benign or malignant tumours can occur in the maxillary sinus.
To diagnose whether growth in your sinuses is benign or malignant, a biopsy must be performed and a sample of the cells sent to a lab.
How do you treat maxillary sinus cancer?
Treatment options for carcinoma of the maxillary sinus may involve a mix of:
- surgery
- radiation
- chemotherapy
The specific course of care that a doctor recommends for you will depend on several variables, such as:
- the size of any tumours
- the stage of the cancer
- your overall health.
- whether any more bodily parts have been affected by the malignancy
As part of your treatment, your doctor could ask you to stop smoking if you currently smoke. This is significant since smoking raises the risk of future sinus cancer recurrence and can complicate therapy.
What’s the survival rate?
It is imperative to bear in mind that each person's experience with cancer is distinct. Numerous things could have an impact on your outlook, including:
- the precise cancerous stage and subtype that you have
- if more bodily parts have been affected by your malignancy
- your age and overall well-being
- How well your body responds to treatment
Cancer of the maxillary sinuses can sometimes be extremely aggressive. It is frequently discovered after it is more advanced, which complicates treatment and raises the possibility of death.
36 patients were found to have stage 4 cancer in a 2022 study that examined 43 patients with maxillary sinus cancer who received treatment at a cancer institute between 2004 and 2018.
Following therapy, 30 patients had a localised or regional recurrence of the disease, and 5 experienced a recurrence of the cancer in a different part of their body. Just 22% made it past five years.
Seventy per cent of patients with cancer of the nose and paranasal sinuses in a bigger European study survived for at least a year following diagnosis, and fifty percent survived for five years or more. It's crucial to remember that participants in this study had a range of paranasal and nasal cancers and that survival rates for nasal cancers were higher than those for sinus tumours.
Takeaway
The maxillary sinuses, which are situated close to the nose, are the site of a rare type of cancer called maxillary sinus cancer. If you have symptoms of sinus cancer, such as pain and lumps on your face or a loss in your sense of smell, it's crucial to consult a doctor because this disease can be quite aggressive.
Men in their 50s and 60s who smoke and work in toxic settings are particularly vulnerable to getting cancer of the maxillary sinus. Life-saving measures include early diagnosis and timely surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy.
FAQs
What are some facts about sinus cancer?
An uncommon kind of cancer called nasal and sinus cancer affects the sinuses, which are tiny air-filled holes inside the nose, cheeks, and forehead, as well as the nasal cavity, which is the area behind the nose. Cancer of the nasal and sinus cavities differs from that of the throat-nose junction. We refer to this as nasopharyngeal carcinoma.
How does sinus cancer start?
Exposure to industrial chemicals.
Can maxillary sinus cancer be cured?
It is also possible to cure it at this stage
Is maxillary sinus cancer painful?
Pain in the forehead, cheek, nose or around the eyes or ear.
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