Dr Saba talks to ecancer at ESMO 2024 about the phase II randomised trial he presented data from.

EA3163 investigated whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy (docetaxel and cisplatin) prior to surgery could improve structure preservation (SP) and overall survival (OS) in patients with T3, T4a, and selected T4b sinonasal squamous cell carcinoma (SNC) requiring orbital or skull base resection.

Patients were randomly assigned to either surgery followed by post-operative radiation therapy (PORT) or the same treatment with chemotherapy beforehand.

The study enrolled 29 patients but was closed early due to slow accrual. SP rates were higher in the chemotherapy group (56%) compared to the standard group (15%), though not statistically significant (p=0.07).

The orbit and skull base preservation rates were also higher in the chemotherapy group while median OS data was not yet available.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy appears to improve structure preservation in resectable sinonasal squamous cell carcinoma. However, further data on survival outcomes is pending.