Poorly differentiated carcinoma with neuroendocrine features in two patients with sinonasal tumours: a report of two cases

Abstract

Neuroendocrine tumors can be described as rare, heterogeneous, epithelial tumours with principally neuroendocrine differentiation that can be harboured in the sinonasal cavities. Owing to the intermingling of its clinical, radiological and histopathological features, the diagnosis of poorly differentiated sinonasal carcinomas with neuroendocrine features is a daunting one. Many of these tumours have a poor prognosis. In our two cases, patients presented with nasal cavity obstruction and growth of 8 & 5-months duration, respectively. Intranasal growths with intracranial extensions were noted in computed tomography scans in both patients. Our first patient failed to complete his cycle of induction chemotherapy (Cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil) and died 8 months after presentation while our second patient completed his cycle of induction chemotherapy but died 1year, 6months, after presentation, as he was unable to get the planned radiotherapy. Indeed, late presentations, intracranial metastasis, and poor treatment compliance can contribute to the poor outcome of these tumours.