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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · South Asian J Cancer 2019; 08(01): 47-51
DOI: 10.4103/sajc.sajc_7_18
ORIGINAL ARTICLE: Head and Neck Cancers

A comparative study of treatment outcome in younger and older patients with locally advanced oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers treated by chemoradiation

Rituparna Biswas
Department of Radiation Oncology, Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal
,
Anirban Halder
Department of Radiation Oncology, Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal
,
Anshuman Ghosh
Department of Radiation Oncology, Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal
,
Sajal Kumar Ghosh
Department of Radiation Oncology, Institute of Post-Graduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, West Bengal
› Institutsangaben Financial support and sponsorship: Nil.
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Abstract

Background: Evidence suggests that older patients with oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers may behave differently from their younger peers. Aim: The aim of this study is to determine if there is difference in responses, survival, and toxicities between young patients (≤40 years of age) with oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers and older patients (>40 years of age) treated with concurrent chemoradiation. Materials and Methods: Sixty-one patients with unresectable, locally advanced oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers received concomitant chemoradiation to a dose of 70 Gray in 35 fractions over 7 weeks with concomitant weekly cisplatin (40 mg/m2). These patients were then distributed in two arms. Arm-A patients having age ≤40 years and Arm-B patients having age >40 years, and the two arms were assessed for treatment outcome. Results: The overall response rate (complete responders + partial responders) evaluated using response evaluation criteria in solid tumors criteria version 1.1 was equivalent in both groups (80.76% in Arm-A and 74.28% in Arm-B; P = 0.93). Older patients (>40 years) experienced more acute mucositis and xerostomia (P < 0.5); although not statistically significant, more acute skin and pharynx toxicities were also observed in this group. Higher late salivary gland toxicity (P < 0.5) was also seen in older patients; however, disease-free survival and progression-free survival were found to be similar in both groups. Conclusions: Older patients with locally advanced oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancers have similar response rates and survival as compared to their younger counterparts but may experience higher treatment-related toxicities.

Key words

Concurrent chemoradiation - disease-free survival - mucositis - oropharyngeal cancer - xerostomia


Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
21. Dezember 2020

© 2019. MedIntel Services Pvt Ltd. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)

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