The impact of national holidays on postoperative radiotherapy of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck

ABSTRACT: Highlights • Paired holidays in the publicly funded Canadian healthcare system are significant predictors in local recurrence.• Treatment interruption or prolongation due to civic holidays results in poor oncologic outcomes in local recurrence.• Patients with early post-operative recurrences had poor oncologic outcomes, regardless of overall treatment time.

Background

Delays in starting postoperative radiotherapy (PORT) have been established as negative predictors for clinical outcomes in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCC). Our study aimed to examine the effect of delays during PORT, and the impact of national holidays in Canada, a publicly funded system, on oncologic outcomes such as Overall Survival (OS) and Local Recurrence (LR).

Methods

The provincial canc

SUBMITTER: Kim M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10440354 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature