A Proposal for a Consistent Classification of Nasal Vestibule Carcinomas

The absence of specific staging criteria for nose vestibule (NV) malignancies in the current AJCC classification contributes to an underestimation of their incidence, as most often they are not discriminated from all the other nasal cavity primaries or even from cutaneous neoplasms. We propose, to more properly consider anatomical features and peculiar patterns of spread, to redefine the anatomical borders of the nose vestibule, switching to radiological landmarks (so that the posterior limit of NV would be the plane tangential to the pyriform opening) and to establish specific T classification criteria for this new subsite, borrowing to a large extent from Wang’s classification. This will allow us to better define the incidence and to better assess the prognosis of these malignancies.