Current concepts in advanced sinonasal mucosal melanoma: a single institution experience

To present outcome measures of sinonasal mucosal melanoma (SMM) patients with particular focus on current radiological and therapeutic options, especially in the non-curative setting (immunotherapy).

Retrospective study on SMM patients treated at our institution between January 1992 and December 2018.

FDG-PET/MRI has emerged as the new hybrid imaging modality, addressing the need for high local tissue contrast in the paranasal sinuses and the skull base, while allowing for whole-body staging in search for distant metastases, including the brain. Primary treatment protocols consisted of tumor resection in 30/34 patients (88%), palliative radiation therapy (RT) in 3/34 patients (9%) and best supportive care therapy in 1/34 patient (3%). Of all the initially operated patients, 25/30 patients (83%) received adjuvant RT. A total of 9/34 patients (26%) was treated with immunotherapy after the previous combined therapy. For patients treated in curative intention, we observed a 1-year overall survival (OS) of 60% (18/30 patients) and a 3-year OS of 40% (12/30 patients). For patients treated with immunotherapy, median progression-free survival (PFS) was 5 months (IQR 0–13.75), with a maximum PFS of 16 months (combination of nivolumab and ipilimumab). However, there was no difference in OS in patients treated with immunotherapy vs. no immunotherapy (log rank 0.99).

Sinonasal mucosal melanoma is a highly aggressive tumor, requiring multimodal therapy and developing a substantial incidence of distant metastases. The introduction of FDG-PET/MRI offers new possibilities in the radiological assessment of the tumor and immunotherapy has altered the management in the non-curative setting, resulting in a substantial progression-free survival in selected cases.