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Incurable locoregional disease is a strong poor prognostic factor in recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck

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Abstract

Background

Distant metastasis is a poor prognostic factor in recurrent/metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. However, limited information on the prognostic impact of locoregional disease is available, despite its life-threatening features. We investigated the prognostic impact of incurable locoregional disease and distant metastasis in recurrent/metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Methods

We retrospectively analyzed 156 patients with recurrent/metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck who received palliative chemotherapy between August 2006 and December 2019.

Results

The median follow-up time for all censored patients was 12.1 (range 1.9–63.5) months. The median overall survival was 12.4 (95% confidence interval 10.1–15.1) months. Incurable locoregional disease (hazard ratio: 2.31, P = 0.007), liver metastasis (hazard ratio: 2.84, P = 0.006), disease-free interval > 13 months (hazard ratio: 0.51, P = 0.041), cetuximab use (hazard ratio: 0.59, P = 0.007), and immune checkpoint inhibitor use (hazard ratio: 0.56, P = 0.006) were associated with prognosis. The number of distant metastatic sites was not associated with overall survival (1–2: hazard ratio: 0.60, P = 0.16; 3–4: hazard ratio: 1.34, P = 0.50). Patients with incurable locoregional disease had more life-threatening events than those with curable locoregional disease.

Conclusion

The presence of incurable locoregional disease had a significant prognostic impact, whereas the number of distant metastatic sites had no prognostic impact. Liver metastasis was a poor prognostic factor for recurrent/metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Editage (www.editage.com) for their writing support.

Funding

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Gastrointestinal Oncology, Shizuoka Cancer Center, 1007 Shimonagakubo, Nagaizumi, Sunto-gun, Shizuoka, 411-8777, Japan

    Ari Nishimura, Tomoya Yokota, Satoshi Hamauchi & Hirofumi Yasui

  2. Division of Medical Oncology, Shizuoka Cancer Center, Shizuoka, Japan

    Yusuke Onozawa & Hiromichi Shirasu

  3. Department of Biostatistics, Clinical Research Center, Shizuoka Cancer Center, Shizuoka, Japan

    Takanori Kawabata

  4. Division of Radiation Oncology, Shizuoka Cancer Center, Shizuoka, Japan

    Hirofumi Ogawa & Tsuyoshi Onoe

  5. Division of Head and Neck Surgery, Shizuoka Cancer Center, Shizuoka, Japan

    Yoshiyuki Iida & Takashi Mukaigawa

Authors
  1. Ari Nishimura
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  2. Tomoya Yokota
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  3. Satoshi Hamauchi
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  10. Takashi Mukaigawa
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  11. Hirofumi Yasui
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tomoya Yokota.

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Conflict of interest

Tomoya Yokota has reserves honoraria from MSD, Merck Biopharma, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Ono Pharmaceutical.

Ethical approval

The study was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Shizuoka Cancer Center (approval number: J2020-81-2020-1-3).

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Informed consent was obtained from all participants in writing.

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Nishimura, A., Yokota, T., Hamauchi, S. et al. Incurable locoregional disease is a strong poor prognostic factor in recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Int J Clin Oncol 26, 1822–1830 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10147-021-01965-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10147-021-01965-1

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