Chemotherapy for skull base cancers

The rarities of skull base cancers and locally aggressive growth patterns have prevented systematic investigation of chemotherapy and promoted the continuation of traditional surgical and postoperative radiotherapy treatment approaches. Convincing data have been generated showing the superiority of chemotherapy and radiation over radiation alone in the treatment of squamous cancers of the nasopharynx and other head and neck sites. The role of chemotherapy is being investigated for patients with locally advanced paranasal sinus tumors, undifferentiated carcinomas, and poorly differentiated skull-base neuroendocrine tumors including small cell carcinoma. Although limited, the available data favor integration of systemic chemotherapy into combined modality treatment regimens.