Osteogenic Sarcoma of the Head and Neck: Is Chemotherapy Needed?

OPINION STATEMENT: Head and neck osteosarcoma (HNOS) is a rare subtype of sarcoma that most commonly arises in the mandible or maxilla. Treatment for HNOS typically involves a multidisciplinary and multimodal approach depending on the size, grade, and histological subtype. Surgery by sarcoma-experienced head and neck surgeons and orthopedic oncologists remains a crucial component of treatment in all subtypes of HNOS, particularly for those with low-grade histology, which can be treated definitively with surgical resection if negative margins are obtained. Negative surgical margins are of utmost prognostic importance, and neoadjuvant or adjuvant radiation should be considered in patients with positive (or anticipated positive) margins/residual postoperative disease. Current data favors the use of (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with high-grade HNOS to improve overall survival but must be individualized to weigh benefits and risks of the short- and long-term effects of treatment. Our center uses a multidisciplinary treatment plan and notes anecdotal improvement in treatment outcomes with a combined surgical and ifosfamide-containing chemotherapeutic approach with radiotherapy for local control if positive margins. Large volume cohorts and adequate randomized control trials assessing the efficacy of chemotherapy in HNOS are scant and additional research and multi-institutional collaboration are needed to study polychemotherapeutic and radiation treatment regimens and outcomes more adequately.

Metastatic Squamous Cell Lung Carcinoma to the Optic Nerve Sheath Mimicking Retrobulbar Optic Neuritis.

Lung carcinoma is the second most common malignancy in both men and women, and may metastasize to the orbit relatively early in the disease course. Metastasis to the optic nerve or its sheath is an exceedingly rare occurrence, and diagnosis may be complicated by nonspecific clinical and radiographic features. The authors present a case of squamous cell lung cancer metastatic to the optic nerve sheath, initially diagnosed as optic neuritis based on its equivocal clinical and radiographic features. This is the first histopathologically confirmed case of squamous cell lung cancer metastatic to the optic nerve sheath in the literature.