A model and nomogram to predict tumor site origin for squamous cell cancer confined to cervical lymph nodes. Issue 22 (24th July 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ali, Arif N.; Switchenko, Jeffrey M.; Kim, Sungjin; Kowalski, Jeanne; El‐Deiry, Mark W.; Beitler, Jonathan J.
• Is Part Of: Cancer. Volume 120:Issue 22(2014)
• Page Start: 3469
• Page End: 3476
• Publication Date: 2014-07-24
• Subjects: unknown primary -- Surveillance -- Epidemiology -- End Results (SEER) -- cervical lymph nodes -- predictive model -- radiation; Cancer -- Periodicals; Cancer -- Cytopathology -- Periodicals; 616.99405
• DOI: 10.1002/cncr.28901
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0008-543X

Abstract

Abstract : BACKGROUND: The current study was conducted to develop a multifactorial statistical model to predict the specific head and neck (H&N) tumor site origin in cases of squamous cell carcinoma confined to the cervical lymph nodes ("unknown primaries"). METHODS: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database was analyzed for patients with an H&N tumor site who were diagnosed between 2004 and 2011. The SEER patients were identified according to their H&N primary tumor site and clinically positive cervical lymph node levels at the time of presentation. The SEER patient data set was randomly divided into 2 data sets for the purposes of internal split‐sample validation. The effects of cervical lymph node levels, age, race, and sex on H&N primary tumor site were examined using univariate and multivariate analyses. Multivariate logistic regression models and an associated set of nomograms were developed based on relevant factors to provide probabilities of tumor site origin. RESULTS: Analysis of the SEER database identified 20, 011 patients with H&N disease with both site‐level and lymph node‐level data. Sex, race, age, and lymph node levels were associated with primary H&N tumor site (nasopharynx, hypopharynx, oropharynx, and larynx) in the multivariate models. Internal validation techniques affirmed the accuracy of these models on separate data. CONCLUSIONS: The incorporation of epidemiologic and lymph node data into a predictive model has the potential to provide valuable guidance to clinicians in the treatment of patients with squamous cell carcinoma confined to the cervical lymph nodes. Cancer 2014;120:3469–3476 . © 2014 The Authors. Cancer published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of American Cancer Society . This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution‐NonCommercial‐NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non‐commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. Abstract : A statistical model has been developed that predicts the most likely head and neck site of origin from a cervical "unknown primary" tumor based on epidemiologic and lymph node data derived from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. This model allows for the statistical localization of the most likely tumor site of origin to aid in high‐resolution tissue sampling by surgeons searching for a pathologic site diagnosis or radiation field treatment decisions by radiation oncologists.