Treatment trends and survival effects of chemotherapy for hypopharyngeal cancer: Analysis of the National Cancer Data Base

Abstract

BACKGROUND The current study was performed to characterize trends and survival outcomes for chemotherapy in the definitive and adjuvant treatment of hypopharyngeal cancer in the United States. METHODS A total of 16,248 adult patients diagnosed with primary hypopharyngeal cancer without distant metastases between 1998 and 2011 were identified in the National Cancer Data Base. The association between treatment modality and overall survival was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival curves and 5-year survival rates. A multivariate Cox regression analysis was performed on a subset of 3357 cases to determine the treatment modalities that predict improved survival when controlling for demographic and clinical factors. RESULTS There was a significant increase in the use of chemotherapy with radiotherapy both as definitive treatment (P