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Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is most common in Southeast Asia. The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlation between wait time and length of radiotherapy and overall survival (OS) of NPC patients in Taiwan., Methods: From Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, this nationwide population-based cohort study identified 3605 NPC patients who received radiotherapy between 2008 and 2011. The impact of time factors on NPC survival rates was estimated with Kaplan-Meier survival curves. A multivariable Cox hazards regression model tested the significance of results after adjustment for other covariables., Results: In all, 317 patients had wait times >4 weeks, 1404 patients had longer duration of radiotherapy (i.e., >10 weeks) and 499 died. Patients with wait times > 4 weeks and length of radiotherapy ≤ 10 weeks didn't have significantly inferior survival. Patients with wait times >4 weeks and length of radiotherapy >10 weeks had significantly lower OS than other groups, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.7 (95 % CI, 1.10-2.60)., Conclusion: Time was a significant prognostic factor for NPC patients who had both >4 weeks wait times and length of radiotherapy >10 weeks. Patients with wait time > 4 weeks and length of radiotherapy ≤ 10 weeks had a trend toward an inferior survival.

Recurrent oral cancer incurred grave outcome. Tumor microenvironment features, like tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) or tumor stromal ratio (TSR) had prognostic significance in various cancers. We aimed to evaluate the impact of stromal categorization which incorporated the stromal TILs and TSR on survival outcomes in recurrent oral cancer. 162 patients who received surgery-based treatment between 2010 and 2020 were recruited. Outcomes were 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS). The impact of stromal categorization of recurrent primary tumor or node on 5-year OS and DSS were assessed with the Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariate analysis was performed, incorporating variables at initial treatment and salvage surgery. Patients were further categorized using a survival decision tree. Mean age was 56.1 (SD, 11.3) years; 153 patients (94.4%) were male; 51 patients (31.5%) had stromal category III. Local recurrence occurred in 94 patients (58%), regional recurrence in 55 (34%), and loco-regional recurrence in 13 (8%). Patients with stromal category III had poorer 5-year OS and DSS. Prior radiotherapy, advanced recurrent stage, positive surgical margin, and stromal category III were independent prognosticators for 5-year OS and DSS. In survival decision tree analysis, patients with prior radiotherapy and stromal category III had the worst outcomes. Stromal categorization is associated with outcomes in recurrent oral cancer. Patients with poor prognosticators, such as stromal categorization III, prior radiation, and advanced stage may require closer follow-up and intensive treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We examined whether dynamic margin criteria margin‐to‐thickness (MTR) ratio has superior predictive value compared with the resection margin or tumour thickness alone in the survival outcome in oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC). Design: This is a retrospective cohort study. Setting: Oral squamous cell carcinoma patients treated in Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital Cancer Center between January 2006 and December 2013. Participants: A cohort of 302 patients with OSCC who had undergone surgical management. Main Outcomes Measures: Log MTR was calculated for each patient, and survival data were analysed using a multivariable Cox regression model. Discriminative analysis was performed using chi‐square, Akaike information criterion (AIC) and Harrell's C tests. Results: After assessing for discriminative ability, the linear trend of log MTR surpassed those of resection margin and tumour thickness in chi‐square, AIC and Harrell's C tests for the advanced pathologic T (pT) category. A multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression model revealed that log MTR <33% was associated with less favourable 5‐year disease‐specific survival (DSS) (P = 0.006) in the entire oral cancer study cohort. Other significant factors included perineural invasion (P = 0.021), pT category, (P = 0.005), pathologic N category (P < 0.001) and differentiation category (P = 0.022). Conclusions: Log MTR < 33% may be a predictor of less favourable outcome in the DSS of OSCC. Log MTR outperformed both resection margin and tumour thickness alone in terms of discriminative analysis. Our study could help in presurgical planning for high‐risk patients and in aiding the decision‐making process for adjuvant treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: In Taiwan, the median age of diagnosis for oral cavity cancer is 51 year old, which is about 10 years earlier than that in Western countries. A recent study assessing the effect of marriage on outcomes for elderly oral cavity cancer patients (≥66 years old) showed that marriage was associated with better survival. However, little is known about the prognostic significance of marital status in oral cavity cancer patients aged 65 years and younger.Methods: Data from 2007 to 2014 were collected from the Cancer Registry Dataset of the Kaohsiung Veterans General Hospital. We reviewed the records of all newly diagnosed patients with oral cavity cancer who were aged 65 years and younger and being treated by primary surgery with or without neck dissection or adjuvant therapy. None of the included patients had distant metastasis upon diagnosis. In total, 457 patients were indentified. We used multivariate Cox regression model to evaluate the effect of marriage on disease-specific survival rates after adjusting for demographic variables and treatments.Results: There was no significant difference between the married and unmarried groups in stage at diagnosis or treatment. The 5-year disease-specific survival was 70.9% in the married group and 51.2% in the unmarried group (P=0.001). Multivariate analysis with Cox regression showed that unmarried patients had worse disease-specific survival (unmarried, adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.51, 95% CI: 1.06-2.16). Subgroup analysis among patients stratified by the independent factors in multivariate analysis revealed that being unmarried was associated with a trend of worse survival in most stratified groups.Conclusion: Marriage was associated with better disease-specific survival for oral cavity cancer patients aged 65 years and younger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine failure patterns and clinicopathologic prognostic factors in patients with locally advanced buccal cancer after postoperative intensity‐modulated radiotherapy (IMRT). Methods: Eighty‐two patients with locally advanced (American Joint Committee on Cancer [AJCC] stage III/IV) buccal cancer who underwent surgery followed by postoperative IMRT between January 2007 and October 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. Results: Eighteen patients had local recurrences as the first recurrent site and 11 had supramandibular notch recurrences; the majority of recurrences were classified as marginal failures. The median time from the first local or regional recurrence to death was 5.9 months. In multivariate analyses of survivals, the initial masticator space involvement was the most important prognostic factor. Masticator space involvement, N classification, and maxillectomy were the significant prognostic predictors for supramandibular notch recurrences. Conclusion: Postoperative IMRT for buccal cancer should not include the surgical beds alone, rather, it should be based on the potential patterns of spread. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Several comorbid measures have been developed and demonstrated the predictive ability for cancer mortality. We conducted a retrospective study on oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) patients to compare the Charlson comorbidity index score (CCIS) to the Elixhauser comorbidity index score (ECIS).Methods: Newly diagnosed OSCC patients (n=232) post major surgery with or without adjuvant therapy were identified from the cancer registry database between 2006 and 2011. Comorbidities present prior to the cancer diagnosis were obtained and adapted to the CCIS and ECIS. The prevalence of comorbid conditions and the influence on disease-specific survival (DSS) rate were calculated and analyzed by Cox regression model. The discriminatory ability of these two comorbid measures was evaluated by using the adjusted hazard ratio and Akaike information criterion (AIC) in a multivariate regression model. The prediction accuracy was assessed using Harrell's c-statistic.Results: Most of the patients (93.5%) were male with a mean age of 54 ± 11 years and 77 of them (33.1%) had at least one comorbid condition. The ECIS was associated DSS, with an additional 10% increased risk observed for mortality for each increased score (HR, 1.10; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03-1.18) after adjusting with pathological risk features. However, the CCIS was not an independent prognostic factor for these patients. The ECIS increased discriminatory ability but the CCIS did not improve discrimination.Conclusions: Comorbid conditions significantly influenced the clinical outcomes of patient with OSCC post major surgery. A higher ECIS was associated with worse disease specific survival indicative of a valuable prognostic indicator. The ECIS may be considered in further clinical trials for a variety of cancers, including head and neck cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is most common in Southeast Asia. The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlation between wait time and length of radiotherapy and overall survival (OS) of NPC patients in Taiwan.Methods: From Taiwan's National Health Insurance Research Database, this nationwide population-based cohort study identified 3605 NPC patients who received radiotherapy between 2008 and 2011. The impact of time factors on NPC survival rates was estimated with Kaplan-Meier survival curves. A multivariable Cox hazards regression model tested the significance of results after adjustment for other covariables.Results: In all, 317 patients had wait times >4 weeks, 1404 patients had longer duration of radiotherapy (i.e., >10 weeks) and 499 died. Patients with wait times > 4 weeks and length of radiotherapy ≤ 10 weeks didn't have significantly inferior survival. Patients with wait times >4 weeks and length of radiotherapy >10 weeks had significantly lower OS than other groups, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.7 (95 % CI, 1.10-2.60).Conclusion: Time was a significant prognostic factor for NPC patients who had both >4 weeks wait times and length of radiotherapy >10 weeks. Patients with wait time > 4 weeks and length of radiotherapy ≤ 10 weeks had a trend toward an inferior survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy is the primary treatment for patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). It wastes time from diagnosis to treatment. Treatment time of radiotherapy generally takes at least seven weeks. The current study aimed to evaluate factors associated with prolonged wait time and longer duration of radiotherapy in NPC patients. Methods and Materials: From Taiwan's National Health Insurance research database, we identified 3,605 NPC patients treated with radiotherapy between 2008 and 2011. Wait time was calculated from the date of diagnosis to the start of radiotherapy. The impact of each variable on wait time and duration of radiotherapy was examined by multilevel analysis using a random-intercept model. Results: The mean wait time and duration of radiotherapy were 1.78±3.33 and 9.72±7.27 weeks, respectively. Multilevel analysis revealed prolonged wait time in patients aged 45–65 years, those receiving radiotherapy alone, those with more comorbidities, those with low SES, and those living in eastern Taiwan. A prolonged duration of radiotherapy was associated with receipt of concurrent chemoradiotherapy, more comorbidities, and moderate SES. Conclusions: Understanding the factors associated with longer wait times and duration of radiotherapy in patients with NPC may help healthcare providers better assist both these patients and potentially those with other head-and-neck cancers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]