Korean J Otorhinolaryngol-Head Neck Surg.  2021 Jul;64(7):486-490. 10.3342/kjorl-hns.2020.00990.

The Effectiveness of Surgery-Based Treatment in Advanced Oropharyngeal Cancers

• Kim YC
• Kim H
• Kwak J
• Lee H
• Jung KY
• Baek SK

• KMID: 2518593
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3342/kjorl-hns.2020.00990

Abstract

Background and Objectives
Oropharyngeal cancers (OPCs) can be staged down to a lower stage with p16 positivity and de-escalated therapy has been the common practice. The aim of this study is to evaluate the survival outcomes based on various clinical factors in advanced OPC patients.
Subjects and Method
A total of 58 OPC patients in the stage IVA based on the American Joint Committee on Cancer 7th edition were treated with primary surgery or primary chemoradiation therapy from 2010 to 2016. A survival analysis was carried out using the Kaplan- Meier method, log-rank test, and Cox proportional hazards model.
Results
The median follow-up was 39.5 months. Thirty-eight and 20 patients received surgery- based and radiation therapy (RT)-based treatments, respectively. Clinical T-stage and treatment method were significant risk factors for 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate, and the treatment method was the only significant risk factor for overall-survival (OS) rate. 5-year DFS rate in the surgery-based treatment and RT-based treatment was 76.1% and 36.0% (p=0.001). On multivariate analysis, the surgery-based treatment group was associated with a significantly reduced hazard of death [the hazard ratio (HR) for the radiation-based treatment was 6.565 compared to the surgery-based treatment, p=0.002]. 5-year OS rate in the surgery-based treatment and RT-based treatment was 91.1% and 53.4% (p=0.003), respectively. On the multivariate analysis, the surgery-based treatment group was associated with a significantly reduced hazard of death (the HR for the radiation-based treatment was 7.544 compared to the surgerybased treatment, p=0.012).
Conclusion
The primary surgery-based treatment for advanced OPC showed a better survival outcome than the primary radiation-based treatment, irrespective of p16 positivity.

Keyword

Chemoradiotherapy; Comparative study; Oropharyngeal neoplasms; Surgery; Survival rate