Postoperative radiation as adjuvant treatment for carcinoma of the oral cavity larynx, and pharynx: Preliminary report of a prospective randomized trial

✍ Scribed by William A. Kokal; James P. Neifeld; Donald Eisert; James A. Lipsett; Walter Lawrence Jr.; J. David Beatty; George A. Parker; Richard D. Pezner; Daniel U. Riihimaki; Jose J. Terz

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1988
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 462 KB
• Volume: 38
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-4790
• DOI: 10.1002/jso.2930380202

✦ Synopsis

A prospective randomized trial was performed in patients with advanced squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) of the oral cavity, larynx, and pharynx to examine the effect of adjuvant postoperative radiation therapy on lo- coregional recurrence and survival following "curative" resection. Fiftyone patients with stage III or IV SCC treated from 1981 through 1984 were randomized to receive either surgery alone (n = 27) or surgery with postoperative radiation (n = 24). Five patients were excluded from the study after randomization because of ineligibility or protocol violations. Overall recurrence rates of 55.6% and 36.8% were noted in the surgery and surgery with adjuvant radiotherapy arms, respectively (p = NS). This trend towards a higher recurrence rate in the surgery only arm was in part due to the development of lymph node metastases in the contralateral, nonoperated neck. Thus far, no significant differences in either locoregional or overall survival have been noted between the two treatment arms. In this preliminary analysis, adjuvant postoperative radiotherapy does not appear to improve disease-free or overall survival.