Institutional clinical trial accrual volume and survival of patients with head and neck cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines recommend patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) receive treatment at centers with expertise, but whether provider experience affects survival is unknown.

Patients and methods

The effect of institutional experience on overall survival (OS) in patients with stage III or IV HNC was investigated within a randomized trial of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG 0129), which compared cisplatin concurrent with standard versus accelerated fractionation radiotherapy. As a surrogate for experience, institutions were classified as historically low- (HLACs) or high-accruing centers (HHACs) based on accrual to 21 RTOG HNC trials (1997 to 2002). The effect of accrual volume on OS was estimated by Cox proportional hazards mo

SUBMITTER: Wuthrick EJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4279235 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature