Definition

Stage IV maxillary sinus cancer is divided into stages IVA, IVB, and IVC. In stage IVB, (1) cancer has spread to any of the following: the area behind the eye, the brain, the middle parts of the skull, the nerves that begin in the brain and go to the face, neck, and other parts of the brain (cranial nerves), the upper part of the throat behind the nose, and/or the base of the skull near the spinal cord. Cancer may have also spread to one or more lymph nodes of any size, anywhere in the neck; or (2) cancer may be found anywhere in or near the maxillary sinus. Cancer has spread to a lymph node that is larger than 6 centimeters or has spread through the outside covering of a lymph node into nearby connective tissue.