Treatment tolerability and outcomes in elderly patients with head and neck cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Purpose

The number of elderly patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) continues to grow. Management of this cohort remains poorly defined. We investigated treatment tolerability and clinical outcomes in this underrepresented population.

Methods

We identified patients aged ≥70 with nonrecurrent, nonmetastatic HNSCC treated curatively from 2007-2018 and analyzed clinical covariates.

Results

Two hundred and twenty patients with a median age of 75 (interquartile range:72-80) were identified. Age and comorbidities were not correlated with toxicity (P ≥ .05). Patients who experienced a treatment interruption had significantly greater weight loss (P = .042) and worse overall survival (OS) (P < .001), but not worse disease-specific survival (P = .45), or l

SUBMITTER: Dickstein DR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9521799 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature