Implications of head and neck cancer treatment failure in the neck

Abstract

Objective: Study the survival of patients with cervical lymphatic squamous cell carcinoma recurrence. Study Design: Review of tumor registry database. Setting: Academic health science center. Subjects and Methods: Forty-seven isolated neck recurrence patients identified from 224 recurrences from a total of 1291 patients treated between 1998 and 2007. The main outcome measurements were neck lymph nodal recurrence, treatment-specific survival, and overall survival. Results: A total of 47 patients had neck recurrence; 10 of the neck recurrence patients (21.3%) had regional disease (N+) at initial presentation. Median survival for patients with neck recurrence was 14.7 months (95% confidence interval [CI] 8.6-18.1 mo), and five-year survival for this group was five percent (95% CI 0%-30%). Neck dissection salvage therapy for neck recurrence resulted in the best survival. Conclusion: Neck dissection as a salvage therapy for neck recurrence resulted in the best survival, and there was no survival benefit in terms of whether a patient had a neck dissection or not as his or her initial therapy.