• 2/9/2008
  • Ketchum, ID
  • staff
  • CancerConsultants.com

Researchers from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine have reported that the addition of radiation therapy (RT) following surgery improves survival in locally advanced squamous cell cancer of the head and neck (HNSCC). The details of this study appeared in the February 1, 2008 issue of Cancer.

HNSCC is the most common type of head and neck cancer. Standard treatment for this stage of disease typically consists of surgery and radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy. The impact of radiation therapy on survival, however, has not been clearly established.

Researchers recently conducted a clinical study to evaluate data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database to determine the effect that radiation therapy has on survival for patients with locally advanced HNSCC. This study included 8,795 patients whose cancer had spread to lymph nodes. They were treated either with surgery alone or surgery plus radiation therapy. Patients had been diagnosed with cancer between 1988 and 2001. The median follow-up was just over four years.

– At five years survival was improved among patients treated with radiation therapy (43.2%) compared with those treated with surgery only (33.4%).

– Death caused by the cancer occurred in approximately 50% of patients treated with surgery and radiation therapy compared with 78% of patients treated with surgery only.

The researchers concluded that the addition of “RT resulted in an approximately 10% absolute increase in 5-year cancer-specific survival and overall survival for patients with lymph node-positive HNSCC compared with surgery alone. Despite combined surgery and adjuvant RT, outcomes in this high-risk population remain suboptimal, emphasizing the need for continued investigation of innovative treatment approaches.”

Comments:
These data suggest that radiation therapy improves outcomes of patients with node positive HNSCC. However, most current patients will receive chemotherapy and RT for optimal results.