Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2016 Feb;38(2):208-15.
doi: 10.1002/hed.23869. Epub 2015 May 25.

Improved overall survival and mortality in head and neck cancer with adjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy in national databases

Sonia S Lin  1 , Sean T Massa  1 , Mark A Varvares  2
Affiliations
Review

Improved overall survival and mortality in head and neck cancer with adjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy in national databases

Sonia S Lin et al. Head Neck. 2016 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Many studies have demonstrated the advantage of postoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) over radiotherapy (RT) alone in locoregional control, but few have examined overall survival with respect to national databases.

Methods: The literature was searched for eligible randomized controlled trials. The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Database and National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) were searched for 5-year overall survival data.

Results: Twenty-eight studies were examined and demonstrated 44% greater locoregional control (relative risk [RR] = 0.56; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.46-0.68) and 12% overall survival benefit (RR = 0.88; 95% CI = 0.81-0.98) with postoperative adjuvant CRT compared to adjuvant RT. Overall SEER survival was 45.0% in 1973, rising to 53.2% in 2005. The NCDB documents a similar increase in overall survival from 45.5% in 1994 to 53.4% in 2005.

Conclusion: The literature shows mortality benefit of adjuvant CRT in patients with advanced head and neck cancer, reflected in SEER and NCDB.

Keywords: adjuvant chemoradiotherapy; concurrent chemoradiotherapy; head and neck cancer; overall survival; reduced mortality.

PubMed Disclaimer