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ABSTRACT Background Patients with head and neck cancer frequently experience malnutrition. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of nutritional status on prognosis and its association with treatment modalities. Methods This retrospective study included 706 patients with head and neck cancer diagnosed between 2004 and 2012. The effects of pretreatment body mass index (BMI) on overall survival were analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox regression model. Results BMI ranged from 11.6 to 38.0 kg/m2 (median, 21.5) and was a prognostic factor for survival, independent of primary site, and tumor stage. The 5-year survival rates for underweight, normal, and overweight groups were 32.2%, 62.7%, and 73.5%, respectively. The hazard ratios of BMI in the surgery, chemoradiation, and radiation groups were 0.95, 0.91, and 0.79, respectively, and the latter two were statistically significant. Conclusion The impact of BMI is determined by the types of cancer treatment. Pretreatment BMI should be considered while deciding treatment. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 37: 1518-1523, 2015 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Background The standard treatment for advanced external auditory canal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is subtotal temporal bone resection and postoperative radiation therapy (RT), whereas chemoradiation therapy (CRT) is used in some institutions to improve patient prognosis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of CRT in external auditory canal SCC treatment. Methods Meta-analyses of external auditory canal SCC studies were performed. We extracted 5-year overall survival rates and number of patients for aggregate patient data, and types of treatment and outcomes for individual patient data. Results The 5-year overall survival rate of 752 patients was 57%. In the individual patient data meta-analysis, the 5-year overall survival rates of patients who received surgery ± RT, preoperative CRT, definitive CRT, and postoperative CRT were 53.5%, 85.7%, 43.6%, and 0%, respectively. Conclusion Our data suggest that preoperative CRT may improve the survival of surgically treated patients with external auditory canal SCC and that definitive CRT may be equivalent to surgical resection. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 37: 1073-1080, 2015 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]