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Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Objective The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of clinicopathological characteristics of head and neck cancer (HNC) patients of Menoufia University on patient response to treatment and relapse status and to determine the overall survival rate and mean survival time. Background HNC arises from the mucosa of the upper aerodigestive tract. In Egypt, it constitutes about 17% of all malignant tumors. It affects both sexes and all races. Tobacco and alcohol continue to remain the two major risk factors of HNC. Patients and methods This study included 120 patients of HNC presented to Clinical Oncology Department, Menoufia University from January 2005 to December 2010; the data were collected from the files regarding patients and disease characteristics and treatment modalities, and then clinical outcome and survival data were reported. Results It was found that most of patients were men (70%), smokers (51.7%), and 60 years of age or less (61.7%). The majority of patients had hemoglobin level greater than 12 g/dl (70%) and pathological grade II (52.5%). The commonest site of malignancy among the group of patients was the larynx (31.7%). Stage III disease represented most of the patients (36.7%) in our study. The patients were treated either by radiotherapy, chemoradiotherapy, induction chemotherapy followed by chemoradiotherapy, or chemotherapy. It was found that complete response rate was 25.8% and partial response rate was 13.3%. There was statistically significant association between hemoglobin level, stage of disease, radiotherapy fractionation, and response to treatment (P = 0.04, <0.001, <0.001, respectively). There was also statistically significant difference between different age groups, stages, and response regarding overall survival rate (P = <0.001 for all factors). Conclusion Hemoglobin level, stage, and radiotherapy fractionation are strong factors affecting patient response.

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