Sinonasal Metastatic Tumors in Taiwan

Background: To analyze the incidence of the metastatic tumors within sinonasal tract inTaiwan and review the data in the English literature.Methods: Retrospective reviewed of patients from 1990 to 2005 with a histologicallyproven diagnosis of metastatic malignancies in the sinonasal tract.Results: Among seventeen enrolled patients, 9 were men and 8 were women, withages ranging from 24 to 76 years old, with a mean of 50.8 years. In order offrequency, sinonasal metastatic tumors originated from the gastrointestinaltract (30%), liver (18%), kidney (18%), breast (18%), thyroid gland (12%)and lung (6%).Conclusion: The incidence and characteristics of metastatic neoplasms in Taiwanesepatients are comparable to other countries in East Asia, except for Japan.However, our data are very different when compared with European andNorth American reports. Different incidences of malignant neoplasms in theprimary site may explain the result of different incidences of sinonasalmetastatic tumor.