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Disease-free time stratification in locally recurrent head and neck carcinoma after definitive radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy

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Abstract

Purpose

There is no standard definition of disease-free interval before local recurrence after treatment in head and neck carcinoma (HNSCC). We evaluated an easy-to-use stratification and its association with survival in a large cohort of patients.

Methods

We performed a retrospective cohort analysis of prognostic variables in 325 HNSCC patients with a local recurrence after definitive radiotherapy or concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Endpoints were overall survival (OS) and post-recurrence survival (PRS).

Results

Variables associated with the survival were the patient age (OS p < 0.0001, PRS p < 0.0001), the initial disease stage (OS p = 0.24, PRS p = 0.0358), localization (OS p = 0.012, PRS p = 0.0002), a complete initial response to treatment (OS p < 0.0001, PRS p = 0.019), synchronous regional or distant metastatic disease (OS p = 0.0094, PRS p < 0.0001), a salvage surgery (OS p < 0.0001, PRS p < 0.0001) and time to recurrence (OS p = 0.0002, PRS p = 0.0029). Time to recurrence could be stratified between specific prognostic time categories that comprised disease persistence, early recurrence (< 12 months), standard recurrence (12 months–5 years) and late recurrence (> 5 years).

Conclusion

In HNSCC patients, time to local recurrence is a prognostic variable that can be defined using an easy-to-use stratification.

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Funding

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Head and Neck Oncology, Gustave Roussy Institute, University Paris-Saclay, 114 Rue Edouard Vaillant, 94800, Villejuif, France

    Philippe Gorphe, Antoine Moya-Plana, Joanne Guerlain, Ingrid Breuskin & Stéphane Temam

  2. Department of Radiotherapy, Gustave Roussy Institute, University Paris-Saclay, Villejuif, France

    Yungan Tao, France Nguyen & Pierre Blanchard

Authors
  1. Philippe Gorphe
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  2. Antoine Moya-Plana
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  3. Joanne Guerlain
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  4. Yungan Tao
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  5. France Nguyen
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  6. Ingrid Breuskin
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  7. Pierre Blanchard
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  8. Stéphane Temam
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Philippe Gorphe.

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The authors have no conflict of interest to disclose.

Ethical approval

This study received approval from the local Research Ethics Committee, in accordance with the World Medical Association—Declaration of Helsinki—ethical principles for medical research and with the national regulatory laws.

Research involving human participants and/or animals

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Gorphe, P., Moya-Plana, A., Guerlain, J. et al. Disease-free time stratification in locally recurrent head and neck carcinoma after definitive radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 279, 3063–3069 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-021-07116-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-021-07116-6

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