Clinical management and outcomes of lacrimal sac squamous cell carcinoma

Abstract

BACKGROUND: To investigate the management and outcomes of patients with lacrimal sac squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). METHODS: This retrospective study examined 69 lacrimal sac SCC cases treated at our hospital between 1992 and 2017. The potential risk factors for prognosis, a new staging method, treatment outcomes, and complications were investigated. RESULTS: The 5-year overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were 87.6 ± 4.8% and 76.3 ± 6.4%, respectively. Positive lymph node was associated with worse OS and PFS. We divided lacrimal sac SCC into four clinical stages, with significant differences in OS (P = .026) and PFS (P = .042) among each stage. Definitive radiotherapy was equivalent to surgery plus radiotherapy in 26.1% (18/69) of cases, and the incidence of complications was not higher. CONCLUSIONS: Lymph node status was a key factor in determining outcomes. Our staging method could effectively classify tumor stage and predict prognosis, which can contribute to optimizing treatment regimes. Radiotherapy played an important role in treatment.