Cohort study reveals improved survival for tonsillar oropharyngeal cancer over nontonsillar sites, indicating tumor location independently guides prognosis.
BACKGROUND: Oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (OPSCC) can occur in either tonsillar related areas (TRA) or nontonsillar areas (nTRA). The prognostic differences between these sites are unclear. This study investigated this question using the National Cancer Database (NCDB), controlling for other confounders including human papillomavirus (HPV) status. METHODS: This NCDB study was conducted by stratifying the HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer cohort into two primary groups, TRA and nTRA. Kaplan Meier survival analysis was stratified according to HPV status, and further analysis was conducted using multivariable Cox regression. RESULTS: A total of 23 297 patients were included in this study. In the multivariable cox regression analysis, OPSCC subsite was found to be an independent prognostic factor for survival (TRA vs nTRA HR: 0.76, 95% CI: 0.67-0.86, P < .0001). CONCLUSION: In this large cohort, OPSCC subsite was found to be an independent prognostic factor for survival.
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Tham et al. (2019) studied this question.
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