Temporal Bone Squamous Cell Carcinoma

A critical retrospective analysis of surgical cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the temporal bone is reported.

We revised 51 surgical cases of squamous cell carcinoma of the temporal bone which were operated on at our institution through the years 1983 to 2004. We correlated the outcome with such factors as T stage, surgical procedure, postoperative radiotherapy, and positive neck nodes.

Four out of the 51 patients, affected by recurrent unresectable tumor, received only palliative therapy. The remaining 47 patients underwent surgery with curative purpose. The minimum follow-up was set at 3 years. The outcome of all patients was updated in January 2007. The follow-up ranged from 3 to 24 years, mean 7.5 years, median 7 years.

>The diagnostic work-up included clinical examination, imaging, and biopsy. Our material included 37 cases at first diagnosis and 10 recurrent tumors.

A lateral temporal bone resection (LTBR) was performed in 30 cases, the remaining 17 cases being treated by a subtotal temporal bone resection (STBR). Neck dissection was part of the treatment in 45 of the 47 cases. Parotidectomy was always performed. Postoperative radiotherapy of 50 to 70 Gy was administered to T and N in 30 cases, according to the indications. The follow-up involved a clinical examination every 3 months for the first year and every 6 months for the remaining 4 years, then every year until the tenth. Imaging, bone window CT, and contrast-enhanced MRI were obtained every 6 months for the first year, then every year until the tenth year.

Throughout the years 2006 to 2007, a new MRI was obtained for survivors to assess the absence of disease. The outcome was expressed as NED, DOD, and DOC. The disease-free survival rate and the disease-free rate was calculated at 3 and 5 years of follow-up and was updated at December 2006 and January 2007 for the last three cases. The analysis of the results of our retrospective study followed two directions. One group of data allowed statistical significance to be achieved, while the other group of data was not as rich with statistics and figures and suggested only a trend.

Results and topics of discussion are reported in the present work.