Manifestations and therapy of malignant fibrous histiocytomas in the head and neck area

From 1982 through 1987, ten patients with malignant fibrous histiocytomas (MFH) in the head and neck area were treated at the ORL Department of the Central Hospital of Bremen. The primary tumor was situated in the region of the paranasal sinuses in six cases and in the parotid gland, the thyroid gland, the inferior maxilla, and the petrosal bone in one case, each. Nine patients were submitted to primary surgery. A postoperative irradiation was performed in four cases, and in four further cases this was done only when a recurrent tumor had been demonstrated. Three patients received a combined chemotherapeutical treatment. Eight patients died, the median survival time was 15 months. Besides local recurrences which occured frequently, remote metastases are the decisive factor for the further evolution of the disease. The lung was the most common site of metastatic spread. Only two patients with MFH of the parasanal sinuses are living now without recurrence after an observation time of 24 and 36 months, respectively. (orig.)