Precisely defining high-risk operable head and neck tumors based on rtog #85-03 and #88-24: Targets for postoperative radiochemotherapy?
✍ Scribed by Jay S. Cooper; Thomas F. Pajak; Arlene Forastiere; John Jacobs; Karen K. Fu; Kian K. Ang; George E. Laramore; Muhyi Al-Sarraf
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 1998
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 167 KB
- Volume
- 20
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 1043-3074
No coin nor oath required. For personal study only.
✦ Synopsis
Background:
Local-regional recurrence of disease remains the major obstacle to cure of advanced head and neck cancers.
Methods:
This investigation reviewed data derived from radiation therapy oncology group (rtog) protocols #85-03 and #88-24 to identify characteristics of tumors that predicted local-regional recurrence of disease following surgery and postoperative radiotherapy (rt).
Results:
The presence of tumor in two or more lymph nodes, and/or extracapsular spread of nodal disease, and/or microscopic-size tumor involvement of the surgical margins of resection imparts a high risk of local-regional (l-r) relapse. our data also support the hypothesis that, following surgery, the concurrent addition of chemotherapy (ct) to rt may increase the likelihood of l-r control of disease for patients who have these high-risk characteristics.
Conclusion:
A prospective trial of surgery followed by concurrent rt and ct is warranted for patients who have high-risk characteristics found at surgery.