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Non‐smoking and non‐drinking patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a distinct population
Author(s) -
Farshadpour F,
Hordijk GJ,
Koole R,
Slootweg PJ
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
oral diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.953
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1601-0825
pISSN - 1354-523X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1601-0825.2006.01274.x
Subject(s) - medicine , head and neck squamous cell carcinoma , head and neck cancer , oncology , cancer , population , incidence (geometry) , stage (stratigraphy) , basal cell , retrospective cohort study , carcinoma , carcinogenesis , paleontology , physics , biology , environmental health , optics
Objective: To recognize specific clinicopathological characteristics of non‐smoking and non‐drinking (NSND) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. This can increase our knowledge regarding a potentially different carcinogenesis in these patients. Study design/methods: Retrospective analysis of data for 195 NSND patients with HNSCC and comparison with data for patients with HNSCC obtained from the Netherlands Cancer Registry. Results: Compared with all HNSCC patients in the Netherlands, our NSND patients with HNSCC were typically female ( n = 142; 73% vs 26%), old at disease presentation (mean 73 years vs 64 years), and had tumors mainly of the oral cavity ( n = 130; 66% vs 25%). Most tumors were stage I ( n = 67; 34%) and stage IVA ( n = 59; 30%). The incidence of second primary tumors (SPTs) was high ( n = 32; 16%), mainly occurring in the oral cavity ( n = 26; 13%). Discussion/conclusion: Our study confirms that NSND HNSCC patients have different clinicopathological characteristics from those of the overall HNSCC population; however, the frequency of SPTs is as high in NSND patients as in patients who smoke and drink alcohol. More research, and particularly molecular data are needed to obtain a better understanding of head and neck cancer in NSND patients.