Time to systemic treatment and prognosis in patients with recurrent and metastatic head and neck squamous cell cancer. Issue 2 (April 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Siano, Marco; Espeli, Vittoria; Joerger, Markus
• Is Part Of: Tumori. Volume 105:Issue 2(2019)
• Page Start: 151
• Page End: 154
• Publication Date: 2019-04
• Subjects: Systemic -- treatment start -- head and neck cancer -- referral; Cancer -- Periodicals; 616.994
• DOI: 10.1177/0300891618811276
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0300-8916

Abstract

Background: Delay of systemic treatment in recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell cancer (r/mHNSCC) has never been assessed. Whether time span to start systemic treatment affects survival and whether referral to a medical oncologist is important has not been explored. Methods: We analyzed our head and neck database to assess the prognostic impact of time between diagnosis of r/mHNSCC and start of systemic treatment (time to treatment [TTT]). Secondarily, we assessed the prognostic impact of time to referral to a medical oncologist (referral time). For this purpose, we used pairwise correlation analysis and multivariate Cox regression analysis as statistical tests. Results: A total of 110 patients with r/mHNSCC were evaluable for analysis. TTT correlated significantly with OS from r/mHNSCC diagnosis ( R = 0.43, p < 0.0001). A nonsignificant, positive correlation was found between referral time and OS ( R = 0.17, p = 0.10). Conclusions: Results of this retrospective analysis suggest that longer TTT is not associated with worse prognosis. Referral time seems not to have an impact on prognosis.