The Survival of Head and Neck Carcinoma Patients Depends on Secondary Causes of Death ()
Affiliation(s)
1Department of Radiooncology, Ruppiner Kliniken, Neuruppin, Germany.
2Medical University Theodor Fontane, Neuruppin, Germany.
3Justus Liebig University, Giessen, Germany.
4Department of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Ruppiner Kliniken, Neuruppin, Germany.
ABSTRACT
Purpose: The study aimed to
analyse causes of death and differential survival after multimodal treatment of
head and neck carcinoma patients. Methods and Materials: Between September 2000
and December 2015, 935 patients received a multimodal treatment of head and
neck carcinoma. Of these, 562 patients (60.1%) underwent a resection of the
primary tumour and a postoperative radio- or radiochemotherapy and 373 patients
(39.9%) received definitive radio- or radiochemotherapy. The median follow-up
was 21.0 months (0.5 - 175.4 months). Results: At
the endpoint of the investigation, 465 patients (49.7%) were alive. The median
survival of all patients was 44.8 months (0.5 - 164.3 months). A total of 470 patients (50.3%) died.
The causes of death were divided into five groups: 22 patients (2.4%) died of
therapy-associated complications with a median of 2.2 months (1.6 - 3.3 months). The 160 patients (17.1%) with
intercurrent death, 117 patients (12.5%) with deaths from locoregional
progression with or without metastasis, and 86 patients (9.2%) with deaths from
metastasis without locoregional recurrence showed comparable survival curves
with a median survival of 13.3 months, 13.6 months, and 14.4 months.
Eighty-five patients (9.1%) died from second malignant diseases and controlled
treated head and neck carcinomas with a median survival of 34.5 months (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Despite a
locoregional control and metastasis-free survival of 78.3% patients, only 49.7%
of the patients were alive, due to a high rate of intercurrent and second
malignant diseases. The short median survival rate is mainly due to the tumours
(locoregional and or distant progression) and intercurrent causes of death,
with the second malignant diseases leading to death later on.
Share and Cite:
Buchali, A. , Huhnt, W. , Maekelburg, I. , Rohrberg, S. , Sidow, D. , Blank, E. , Schroeder, C. and Franzen, A. (2017) The Survival of Head and Neck Carcinoma Patients Depends on Secondary Causes of Death.
Journal of Cancer Therapy,
8, 1187-1193. doi:
10.4236/jct.2017.813102.
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