Surgery for nasal or paranasal sinus cancer

Your doctor may advise you to have surgery if the tumour isn’t too close to your brain or major blood vessels. The type of surgery will depend on where the tumour is and, if you have paranasal sinus cancer, which sinuses are affected. You will often need to have reconstructive surgery as well.

Nasal and sinus cancers are often close to the eye socket, brain, cheek bones and nose. Your surgeon will talk to you about the most suitable approach and whether any other structures need to be removed to get the best outcome.

Different types of surgery for nasal and sinus cancer include:

• maxillectomy – removes part or all of the upper jaw (maxilla); may include the upper teeth, part of the eye socket and/or the nasal cavity
• skull base surgery – also known as a craniofacial resection, this surgery removes part of the nasal cavity or sinuses; often done endoscopically through the nose, but a cut along the side of the nose may be needed; sometimes a neurosurgeon assists with this surgery
• orbital exenteration – removes the eye and may also remove tissue around the eye socket
• rhinectomy – removes part or all of the nose.

The surgeon will consider how the operation will affect how you look, and your ability to breathe, speak, chew and swallow.

If your nose, or a part of it, is removed, you may get an artificial nose (prosthesis) or the nose may be reconstructed using tissue from other parts of your body. The process for completing the prosthetic or reconstructed nose may take several months. Your surgeon will give you more information about the different steps and the overall timing.

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