Duration of radiation therapy is associated with worse survival in head and neck cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Introduction

Delays in radiation are multifactorial, frequent, and associated with poor outcomes. This study investigates the effect of both primary and adjuvant radiation therapy duration and their interaction with other measures of treatment delay on survival in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).

Methods

We built a retrospective cohort using the National Cancer Database, consisting of primary oral cavity, hypopharynx, larynx and oropharynx squamous cell carcinoma without distant metastasis and with at least six weeks of radiation. The primary exposure was the duration of radiation therapy (DRT), and the primary outcome was death. We estimated the association between DRT and 5-year overall survival (OS) using Kaplan-Meier curves and hazard ratios (HRs) with Cox

SUBMITTER: Mazul AL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8981246 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature