Neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiation for advanced esthesioneuroblastoma: a case series and review of the literature.

Esthesioneuroblastoma (ENB) is a rare malignancy arising from the olfactory epithelium of the nasal vault. ENB accounts for 3% to 6% of all intranasal tumors and has the best prognosis among sinonasal malignancies with neuroendocrine differentiation. The optimal treatment continues to be controversial, but the benefit of adjuvant therapy, particularly radiotherapy, has been well described in the literature. The largest reported series evaluated neoadjuvant radiotherapy of 50 Gy, with or without neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and found improved resectability with improved patient survival. We present two cases of advanced ENB at our institution treated with a preoperative concurrent radiochemotherapy in a manner akin to that of small-cell carcinoma of the lung.