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Comparison of primary and secondary treatment in squamous oral cancer
Author(s) -
Moore Condict,
Flynn Michael B.,
Knox Robert,
Newman Donald A.,
Greenberg Richard A.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
journal of surgical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.201
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1096-9098
pISSN - 0022-4790
DOI - 10.1002/jso.2930340203
Subject(s) - medicine , cancer , squamous carcinoma , surgery , stage (stratigraphy) , oral cavity , radiation therapy , carcinoma , dentistry , paleontology , biology
A popular rule of thumb has often prevailed in treating oral cancer: Try one modality first; if it fails, try the other—the chance for cure will still be good. To study this dogma, a group of 160 consecutive patients with oral cavity squamous carcinoma were reviewed. A hypothesis was formed: secondary treatment for recurrent cancer, whether surgery after radiation failure or vice versa, would salvage essentially as many patients as primary treatment, say within 15%. Results show a large difference in success rates between first and second treatments when all stages are considered together, a difference well over 15 percentage points. Regarding each stage separately, the largest difference occurs in stage II (28 percentage points); other stages exceed 15 point differences. No significant differences in successful salvage occur between “home” failures and “elsewhere” failures. Local recurrence was a major cause of failure in both groups (55%). We conclude that recurrence of oral squamous cancer after first treatment markedly reduces patients' chance for cure.