Improved Survival Rates for Patients with Head and Neck Cancer

Improved Survival Rates for Patients with Head and Neck Cancer

Patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer who receive chemotherapy and radiation therapy following surgery are more likely to survive than patients who only receive radiation therapy following surgery, according to a new study presented November 5, 2001, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology's Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

From 1994 to 2000, 334 patients from 23 institutions who had undergone surgery for head and neck cancer were randomly assigned to receive either radiation therapy once a day (RT) or radiation therapy once per day combined with three courses of chemotherapy (RT-CT).

At a median follow-up time of 34 months, 3-year disease-free survival rate estimates were 41 percent for RT patients and 59 percent for RT-CT patients. In addition, the study estimated that the overall survival rates were 49 percent for RT patients and 65 percent for RT-CT patients.

"The results of the study represent a real breakthrough in head and neck oncology since from now on, concomitant radio-chemotherapy has to be considered as the 'golden standard' for post-operative treatment in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer," said Jacques Bernier, M.D., a member of the Department of Radiation Oncology at the Ospedale San Giovanni in Ticino, Switzerland.

"It is also worth noting that this improvement was obtained with no increased or undue morbidity in the normal tissues during and immediately following the treatment, when toxicity of the two treatments arms is taken into account," Dr. Bernier added. "It is too early to assess the incidence of late toxicity in the normal tissues, the frequency of metastases and that of second cancers in the treated population."

If you would like a copy of the abstract titled "Chemo-Radiotherapy, As Compared to Radiotherapy Alone, Significantly Increases Disease-Free and Overall Survival in Head and Neck Cancer Patients After Surgery: results of EORTC Phase III Trial 22931" or to speak to the lead author of the study, Jacques Bernier, M.D., please call Katherine Egan Bennett at the ASTRO Press Room at the Moscone Convention Center at (415) 978-3717 or e-mail her at [email protected]. Alternatively, you can call Lesley Nevers at ASTRO's headquarters at (703) 227-0141 or e-mail her at [email protected] for more information.

ASTRO is the largest radiation oncology society in the world, with more than 6,700 members who specialize in treating patients with radiation therapies. As a leading organization in radiation oncology, biology and physics, the society's goals are to advance the scientific base of radiation therapy and to extend the benefits of radiation therapy to those with cancer and other diseases.

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