Abstract
Objectives
To evaluate the treatment outcomes of our patients with locally advanced head and neck non-melatomatous skin cancers (HNNMSC). In this study we determined the 1-and 2-year disease-free survival and the 5-year overall survival of our patients treated with surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy, as a single modality or in combination.
Methods
Between 1994 and 2006, 197 patients with locally advanced HNNMSC were identified from our institution's Head and Neck Clinical Cancer Database. These patients had their medical records reviewed and of those, 66 met inclusion criteria. We included patients with pathological documentation of locally advanced HNNMSC.
Results
The majority of these patients were Caucasian and males with an average age of 69 years. 52 patients (79%) had squamous cell carcinoma and 14 (21%) had basal cell carcinoma. 23 patients (35%) received surgery alone, of which 20 (87%) showed no evidence of disease (NED). 5 patients (7%) received radiation alone, all of which showed NED except 1 who is alive with disease. 29 patients (44%) received surgery and radiation, of which 15 (51%) showed NED and the others recurred. 4 patients (6%) had chemotherapy plus radiation, of which 2 recurred. 5 patients (7%) had surgery plus chemotherapy and radiation, of which 2 showed NED, with the others recurred.
Conclusions
We cannot show statistical differences between different treatment modalities; however, there were more patients with NED in the surgery group compared to surgery and radiation. It is difficult to make conclusions about the chemoradiation because of the small number of patients.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.