This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Reply to article  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Citing articles on HighWire  • Citing articles on ISI (4)  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in this journal  Topic Collections  • Neoplasms of Head & Neck  • Radiology of Head & Neck  • Radiation Therapy  • Alert me on articles by topic  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Ted Mau, MD, PhD; Young Oh, MD; M. Kara Bucci, MD; David W. Eisele, MD

Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2005;131:600-604.

Objective  To assess the value of planned neck dissection in patients with a complete response to definitive radiotherapy for squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsillar fossa with advanced nodal disease.

Design  Case series.

Setting  Academic tertiary care medical center.

Patients  A consecutive series of 36 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsillar fossa with N2 or N3 nodal disease treated with primary radiation therapy with or without concurrent chemotherapy between January 1, 1992, and April 1, 2003, at the University of California, San Francisco, Comprehensive Cancer Center. Patients treated with primary surgery, those treated with palliative intent, or those with preexisting malignancies were excluded.

Main Outcome Measures  Regional control and overall survival.

Results  Of the study group, 15 patients (42%) achieved a complete response, 17 (47%) achieved a partial response, and 1 (3%) was a nonresponder. The response in 3 patients (8%) could not be assessed. Of the 15 patients with a complete response, only 2 (13%) later developed regional recurrences, 1 of which was an isolated recurrence in the neck. Regional control and overall survival at 3 years were 78% and 48%, respectively.

Conclusions  The rate of regional recurrence after a complete response to radiation therapy with or without concurrent chemotherapy for tonsillar squamous cell carcinoma with advanced cervical metastases is low. Our results support close surveillance of the neck in those who have achieved a complete response after radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy.

Author Affiliations: Departments of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery (Drs Mau, Oh, and Eisele) and Radiation Oncology (Dr Bucci), University of California, San Francisco.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati     What's this?

THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES

Clinical Utility of 18F-FDG PET/CT in Assessing the Neck After Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy for Locoregional Advanced Head and Neck Cancer
Ong et al.
JNM 2008;49:532-540.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT