Radiotherapy and Concurrent Chemo-Radiotherapy in Locally Advanced Hypopharyngeal Cancers - A Hospital Registry Based Analysis

Background: The survival of patients with hypopharyngeal cancer is low amongst head and neck cancer cases.The incidence rates of hypopharyngeal cancers in our population are amongst the highest in the world and thereare limited data available on the literature on varied responses to first course of treatment with radiotherapy (RT)and concurrent chemo-radiotherapy (CRT) in our population. Materials and
Methods: Clinical characteristicsand initial responses to treatment in patients who had received radiotherapy and chemo-radiotherapy in aregional cancer center from January 2010 to December 2013 were evaluated. The data were obtained from thehospital cancer registry, and analysis was carried using descriptive statistics. Pearson’s chi-square was usedto test for differences in the variables and p<0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: A total of554 patients were included in the analysis, 411 (74.2%) receiving RT and 143 (25.8%) being given CRT. Therewas significantly lower number of patients above 70 years with a higher proportion of patients below 50 yearswho had received CRT (p<0.05). Some 79.3% and 84.6% of patients in the RT and CRT groups respectivelypresented with a favorable performance status, and in the RT group 240 (58.4%) showed complete response(CR), and in the CRT group 103 (72.0%) showed CR at the first follow-up (p<0.05).
Conclusions: Concurrentchemo-radiotherapy gives better short term response to treatment in locally advanced hypopharyngeal cancers.