| The following article features coverage from the American Head & Neck Society (AHNS) 2018 meeting. Click here to read more of Cancer Therapy Advisor‘s conference coverage. |
Adjuvant chemoradiotherapy may improve long-term survival outcomes among patients with salivary squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), according to findings presented at the 2018 American Head & Neck Society Annual Meeting in National Harbor, Maryland.1
Recent data indicate that adjuvant chemotherapy in salivary SCC does not improve survival. Researchers noted, however, that despite there being 20 different subtypes of salivary SCC, squamous cell subtypes are excluded from clinical studies.
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For this retrospective study, researchers evaluated the outcomes of 2285 adult patients with salivary SCC diagnosed between 2004 and 2014. Patients were separated into early- (stage I/II) and late- (stage III/IV) disease groups, and investigators analyzed various patient factors including demographics, tumor, facility, and survival variables.
The addition of adjuvant chemotherapy to radiotherapy trended towards prolonged survival outcomes among patients with late-stage disease compared with radiotherapy alone (hazard ratio [HR], 0.774; P = .026).
Patients treated with chemoradiotherapy had a 5-year overall survival (OS) rate of 58.9%; the 5-year OS was 31.1% and 45.6% among patients who received surgery alone and adjuvant radiotherapy alone, respectively.
Notably, approximately 50% and 30% of patients with late- and early-stage disease, respectively, undergo surgery without adjuvant therapy.
The authors concluded that “expanded use of adjuvant therapy for early-stage disease may also improve patient outcomes.”
Read more of Cancer Therapy Advisor‘s coverage of the American Head & Neck Society (AHNS) 2018 meeting by visiting the conference page.
Reference
- Cheraghlou S, Zogg CK, Otremba MD, et al. The addition of chemotherapy to the adjuvant therapy of late-stage salivary squamous cell carcinoma is associated with improved patient survival. Oral presentation at: 2018 American Head & Neck Society Annual Meeting; April 18-19, 2018; National Harbor, MD.
