ABSTRACT
Objective:To analyze the risk factors that affect the prognosis of patients with hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma（HPSCC） and to compare the efficacy of surgical resection followed by adjuvant radiotherapy（SR） with that of neoadjuvant therapy consisting of platinum-based chemotherapy and fluorouracil combined with either cetuximab or nimotuzumab, followed by SR. The study also aimed to evaluate the overall survival（OS） of patients, their postoperative eating function, tracheostomy decannulation rate, and tumor response to the two neoadjuvant chemotherapies. Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical records of HPSCC patients who received SR or neoadjuvant therapy followed by SR treatment at the Shanghai General Hospital from 2012 to 2019 and had not undergone any prior treatment. The prognostic factors were analyzed, and the survival analysis of patients who underwent SR treatment with two neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimens was performed. Results:A total of 108 patients were included in the study. The results of the univariate analysis showed that gender（P=0.850） had no significant correlation with the survival rate of HPSCC patients who underwent SR. However, age, smoking history, alcohol consumption history, platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio（PLR）, neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio（NLR）, T stage, N stage, neoadjuvant therapy with either cetuximab or nimotuzumab combined with platinum-based chemotherapy and fluorouracil, and histological grade were significantly associated with prognosis（P<0.05）. The multivariate analysis revealed that smoking history, histological grade, and neoadjuvant therapy with either cetuximab or nimotuzumab combined with platinum-based chemotherapy and fluorouracil were independent risk factors affecting the prognosis of HPSCC（P<0.05）. Patients who received neoadjuvant therapy had longer OS than those who underwent SR only（P<0.001）. There was no significant difference in tumor response to the two neoadjuvant therapies and in OS（P>0.05）, and there was no significant difference in the rate of oral feeding and tracheostomy decannulation among the three treatment groups（P>0.05）. Conclusion:Univariate analysis showed that age at tumor onset, smoking history, alcohol consumption history, NLR, PLR, T stage, N stage, whether receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and pathological grade were associated with the prognosis of HPSCC patients receiving SR treatment. Multivariate analysis showed that smoking history, pathological grade, and neoadjuvant chemotherapy were independent risk factors affecting the prognosis. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy with cetuximab or nimotuzumab can prolong the OS of patients, providing a certain basis and reference for the treatment of HPSCC.