Update on adherence to guidelines for time to initiation of postoperative radiation for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A prior study reported that over half of patients with HNSCC initiated PORT after 6 weeks from surgery during 2006-2014. In 2022, the CoC released a quality metric for patients to initiate PORT within 6 weeks. This study provides an update on time to PORT in recent years.

Methods

The NCDB and TriNetX Research Network were queried to identify patients with HNSCC who received PORT during 2015-2019 and 2015-2021, respectively. Treatment delay was defined as initiating PORT beyond 6 weeks after surgery.

Results

In NCDB, PORT was delayed for 62% of patients. Predictors of delay included age >50, female sex, black race, nonprivate insurance/uninsured status, lower education, oral cavity site, negative surgical margins, increased postoperative length of stay, unpl

SUBMITTER: Lorenz FJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10797635 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature