• Niclas Rubek, Hani Ibrahim Channir, Birgitte Wittenborg Charabi, Christel Bræmer Lajer, Katalin Kiss, Hans Ulrik Nielsen, Jens Bentzen, Jeppe Friborg, and Christian von Buchwald.
• Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery and Audiology, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen, Denmark. Niclas.rubek@regionh.dk.
• Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol. 2017 May 1; 274 (5): 2229-2237.

AbstractThere is an increasing incidence of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) in the western world due to human papillomavirus (HPV). According to the Danish Head and Neck Cancer Group guidelines, the current recommended treatment of patients with OPSCC in Denmark is primary radiation therapy (RT) with or without concomitant chemotherapy. This is the first study in Scandinavia from a head and neck cancer centre that aims to demonstrate the feasibility of performing primary transoral robotic surgery (TORS) and concurrent neck dissection for patients with early stage OPSCC. Between September 2014 and January 2016, 30 consecutive patients with clinical T1-T2, N0-N1 OPSCC underwent primary TORS and concurrent neck dissection. The patients were offered postoperative adjuvant therapy according to pathological risk parameters: pT >2, T-site margin <2 mm, pN >1 or extracapsular extension (ECE). Concomitant chemotherapy was offered to patients with the presence of ECE or involved margins. Twenty-nine patients had negative margins on T-site after primary resection. Only one patient had a close margin of 1 mm. Unilateral neck dissection was performed in 21 patients while nine patients underwent bilateral neck dissection. Due to an upstaging following surgery, 13 patients were referred to adjuvant therapy. Four of these patients received RT and two patients received concomitant chemo-radiation (CCR) therapy. Seven patients declined the recommended adjuvant therapy one of whom later developed an N-site recurrence and received salvage surgery with postoperative RT. In summary, 43% of the patients were referred to adjuvant therapy following primary surgery which was mainly due to N-site stage migration and ECE. Primary TORS and concurrent neck dissection is a safe and feasible procedure that may be an alternative to primary RT and CCR in a selected group of patients with early stage OPSCC.

36 keywords...

hide…