Survival impact of induction chemotherapy in advanced head and neck cancer: A National Cancer Database analysis.

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Adding induction chemotherapy to concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy (RT) has generally not improved the overall survival (OS) in randomized trials of patients with head and neck cancer. This failure may stem from inadequate power or inappropriate patient selection, prompting this National Cancer Data Base analysis.

METHODS:

8031 patients with T4 or N2b to N3 disease undergoing RT and chemotherapy were divided into induction chemotherapy and concurrent chemotherapy cohorts. Multivariate analysis was used to explore the association of treatment with survival and to identify predictors of radiation dose.

RESULTS:

On multivariate analysis incorporating sociodemographic and clinical variables, survival of the induction chemotherapy cohort was not significantly different from that of the concurrent cohort (hazard ratio [HR], 0.96; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.88-1.05; p = .35), nor on subgroup analyses of advanced disease. Multivariate analysis demonstrated increased odds of receiving <66 Gy among the patients in the induction chemotherapy cohort (p < .01).

CONCLUSION:

Induction chemotherapy subjects experienced no survival advantage over concurrent chemotherapy subjects but were more likely to receive lower RT doses. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 39: 1113-1121, 2017.

• Authors: William A Stokes, Arya Amini, Bernard L Jones, Jessica D McDermott, David Raben, Debashis Ghosh, Julie A Goddard, Daniel W Bowles, Sana D Karam
• Journal: Head & neck (Head Neck) Vol. 39 Issue 6 Pg. 1113-1121 (06 2017) ISSN: 1097-0347 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 28301079 (Publication Type: Journal Article)
• Copyright: © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Topics

• Adult
• Aged
• Analysis of Variance
• Carcinoma, Squamous Cell (drug therapy, mortality, pathology)
• Chemoradiotherapy (methods)
• Chemotherapy, Adjuvant
• Cohort Studies
• Databases, Factual
• Disease-Free Survival
• Female
• Head and Neck Neoplasms (drug therapy, mortality, pathology)
• Humans
• Induction Chemotherapy (methods)
• Kaplan-Meier Estimate
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Multivariate Analysis
• National Cancer Institute (U.S.)
• Neoplasm Invasiveness (pathology)
• Neoplasm Staging
• Prognosis
• Proportional Hazards Models
• Retrospective Studies
• Risk Assessment
• Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck
• Survival Analysis
• Treatment Outcome
• United States