Older patients with early-stage oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma: outcomes for elderly patients aged 70 years or older

Cancer of the oral cavity is one of the most common malignancies. There are an estimated 354,864 new cases of oral cavity cancer, and more than 177,000 oral cavity cancerrelated deaths annually (1). Surgery remains the primary standard of care in oral cavity cancer. The survival rate has been raised with the improvements in surgical techniques in combination with adjuvant radiation or chemoradiation therapy (2). A multidisciplinary approach ensures maximum disease control and minimal side effects (3). Adjuvant systemic therapy and radiotherapy is prescribed based on the independent risk of disease. In the latest annual report from the Taiwanese cancer registry, the median age of diagnosis was 56 years for men and 63 years for women, while men took up 89% of the newly diagnosed cases. Overall, 786 (13.6%) of the 5,790 patients newly diagnosed with oral cavity cancer were more than 70 years old (4). Elderly patients aged above 70 years are prone to toxicities in oncologic therapies and non-cancer related death. Standard therapies might be considered relatively aggressive to them and thus not be applied as often as to the younger cohort, considering performance Original Article