RESUMO
Background: Head and neck cancer [HNC] represents more than 550,000 cases annually. It accounts for 380,000 deaths every year. Despite aggressive treatment, only 35% to 55% of patients who present with locally advanced HNC remain alive and free of disease 3 years after standard curative treatment. Thirty percent to 40% of patients develop locoregional recurrences, and distant metastases occur in 20% to 30%. Most recurrences appear quickly within 2 years of initial treatment and an additional 10% of patients will have evidence of distant metastases at the time of first presentation
Purpose: To retrospectively determine the prognostic effect of T stage in locally advanced head and neck cancer
Patients and Methods: This study retrospectively analyzed 40 patients diagnosed with locally advanced head and neck cancer. Patients were diagnosed by a tissue biopsy and they were staged by endoscope and CT neck or MRI neck with contrast. They received their treatment and were followed up every 3 months by CTs
Results: We found a statistically significant correlation between T stage and both PFS and OS in HNC [95%, CI 1.00 - 3.10, p=0.04 and 95% CI 1.01 - 2.65, p=0.05 respectively]. We did not find any other statistically significant correlation between other patients sub-groups such as age, gender, smoking, affected site, stage, lymph node infiltration, receiving induction chemotherapy, receiving radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy, and response to treatment and between PFS and OS
Conclusion: This study confirmed that the T stage of the tumor is an important prognostic factor in locally advanced head and neck cancer