Treatment of Early Stage Tonsil Cancer in the Age of Human Papillomavirus-Associated Malignancies.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the patterns of care and outcomes of treatment of early stage tonsil cancers, controlling for human papillomavirus (HPV) status. STUDY DESIGN: Historical cohort study. SETTING: National Cancer Database (NCDB). METHODS: Review of the NCDB between 2010 and 2017 for all T1-2N0M0 tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). Demographics, clinical characteristics, HPV status, treatment regimens, and survival were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 4720 patients were identified with early stage SCC of the tonsil. Most were tested for HPV (2759 [58.5%]). Among tested patients, 1758 (63.7%) were positive for HPV and 1001 (36.3%) were negative for HPV. HPV-positive patients had higher 3-year survival compared to HPV-negative patients (93.2% vs 77.8%, P < .001). Among HPV-positive patients, there was no significant difference in survival between treatment cohorts. However, in the HPV-negative cohort, 3-year survival was higher in both bimodality surgical-based settings (tonsillectomy + neck dissection + radiotherapy, 86.0% vs chemoradiotherapy, 69.6%, P = .01) and for all surgical-based treatments when compared to nonsurgical management (84.6% vs 69.3%, P < .001). This difference was maintained in multivariable regression controlling for age, sex, comorbidities, clinical T stage, and treatments. In a subpopulation of HPV-negative patients propensity score matched by all factors significant in multivariable analysis, 3-year survival remained higher in the surgically treated group compared to the nonsurgically treated cohort (84.9% vs 67.1%, P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Surgical- or radiation-based treatment resulted in similar survival in early stage HPV-positive tonsil cancer. Surgical-based treatments were associated with longer survival in HPV-negative cancers. These findings should be further investigated in a randomized prospective trial.

Pediatric Endoscopic Ossiculoplasty Following Surgery for Chronic Ear Disease.

OBJECTIVE: Rigid endoscopes can improve visualization of the tympanic space compared to traditional microscopic techniques. This study investigates whether use of transcanal endoscopic ossiculoplasty influences audiologic outcomes compared to microscopic ossiculoplasty following chronic ear surgery in children. STUDY DESIGN: Comparative cohort study at two tertiary care centers. METHODS: Retrospective review of pediatric chronic ear cases where ossiculoplasty was performed from February 2009 to March 2018. RESULTS: We identified 100 ears that underwent endoscopic ossiculoplasty and 100 ears that underwent microscopic ossiculoplasty. The mean age was 11 years (range, 4-18 years) with 63% males. There were no significant differences in these parameters between the two groups. Subjects underwent either primary ossiculoplasty or ossiculoplasty during second-look procedures. There was no significant difference in air conduction pure tone average (PTA) after microscopic cases compared to endoscopic cases (-12.5 dB vs. -10.5 dB, P = .40). These results were independent of prosthesis type. Microscopic ossiculoplasty was significantly more likely to use a post-auricular approach (P = .0001). There was no difference in complication rate between the two groups. The malleus was more likely to be absent or removed prior to endoscopic ossiculoplasty (P = .0004) with no significant difference in the change in PTA between groups. CONCLUSIONS: Transcanal endoscopic ossiculoplasty was found to have equivalent audiometric outcomes with significantly fewer post-auricular approaches and no increase in complications compared to microscopic ossiculoplasty. While the malleus was more likely to be absent in endoscopic cases, this did not appear to influence the change in PTA. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4 Laryngoscope, 2020.

Video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy is associated with greater recurrence-free survival than stereotactic body radiotherapy for clinical stage I lung cancer.

OBJECTIVE: Stereotactic body radiotherapy is the standard treatment for medically inoperable early-stage non-small cell lung cancer. Recent data suggest that in operable patients, stereotactic body radiotherapy produces outcomes comparable to those of surgical resection. In veterans with early non-small cell lung cancer, we compared the outcomes of stereotactic body radiotherapy and video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed data from 183 patients (94.0% male) with clinical stage I non-small cell lung cancer who underwent stereotactic body radiotherapy (n = 56) or video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy (n = 127) from 2009 to 2014. Propensity matching was used to produce more comparable groups. Primary end points were tumor control and overall, recurrence-free, and lung-cancer-specific survival, as estimated by Kaplan-Meier actuarial analysis. Multivariable analysis was used to identify independent predictors. RESULTS: In the overall cohort, the patients who received stereotactic body radiotherapy were older than the patients who received video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy (median age, 79.5 vs 64 years) and had more comorbidities. In the 37 propensity-matched pairs, the 3-year actuarial tumor control rate was 54.3% after stereotactic body radiotherapy and 90.6% after video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy (P = .0038). Actuarial lung cancer-specific 3-year survival was 78.1% (stereotactic body radiotherapy) versus 93.6% (video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy) (P = .055). One-year overall, 3-year overall, and 3-year recurrence-free survivals were 89.2%, 52.9%, and 38.5% after stereotactic body radiotherapy and 94.6%, 85.7%, and 82.8% after video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy (P < .005 for all), respectively. In multivariable analysis, stereotactic body radiotherapy independently predicted recurrence and poorer survival. CONCLUSIONS: In veteran patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer, video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy resulted in better disease control and survival than stereotactic body radiotherapy. Although prior reports suggest that stereotactic body radiotherapy is a suitable alternative to surgery in early-stage lung cancer, a prospective randomized trial is needed. Nevertheless, stereotactic body radiotherapy remains a suitable option for medically inoperable patients.

Phase III, double-blind study of depot octreotide versus placebo in the prevention of acute diarrhea in patients receiving pelvic radiation therapy: results of North Central Cancer Treatment Group N00CA.

PURPOSE: To assess the effectiveness of depot octreotide for the prevention of diarrhea during pelvic radiation therapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients receiving pelvic radiation therapy (planned minimum dose, 45 Gy; 1.7 to 2.1 Gy daily) were eligible for the study. From May 10, 2002, through October 14, 2005, 125 patients were randomly allocated in a double-blind fashion to receive octreotide (100 microg, administered subcutaneously on day 1, followed by depot octreotide, 20 mg, administered intramuscularly on days 2 and 29; n = 62) or to receive a placebo (n = 63). RESULTS: Grade 0, 1, 2, and 3 diarrhea were observed in 18%, 31%, 31%, and 21% of patients in the octreotide arm, respectively, and in 25%, 32%, 22%, and 21% of patients in the placebo arm, respectively (P = .64). Grade 0, 1, 2, and 3 abdominal cramps were observed in 32%, 45%, 21%, and 2% of patients receiving octreotide, respectively, and in 51%, 24%, 21%, and 5% of patients receiving the placebo, respectively (P = .053). Some patient-reported symptoms were worse in the octreotide group, including nocturnal bowel movements (70% v 45%; P = .004), clustering of bowel movements (90% v 69%; P = .004), and bleeding with bowel movements (57% v 35%; P = .01). CONCLUSION: As administered in this study, octreotide did not decrease diarrhea during pelvic radiation therapy. Some gastrointestinal symptoms were worse in patients treated with octreotide. Octreotide is not indicated for prevention of diarrhea during pelvic radiation therapy.