Re-Irradiation for Recurrent Head and Neck Cancer: Freedom from Cancer Recurrence Rate.

Salvage re-irradiation (rRT) for patients with locoregionally recurrent head and neck cancer (rHNC) remains challenging. A retrospective analysis was performed on 49 patients who received rRT between 2011 and 2018. The co-primary endpoint of the study was 2-year freedom from cancer recurrence rate (FCRR) and overall survival (OS), and secondary endpoints were 2-year disease-free survival (DFS), local failure (LF), regional failure (RF), distant metastases (DM), and RTOG grade 3 ≥ late toxicities. Adjuvant and definitive rRT were delivered to 22 and 27 patients, respectively. A total of 91% of patients were managed with conventional re-RT and 71% of patients received concurrent chemotherapy. The median follow-up after rRT was 30 months. The 2-year FCRR, OS, DFS, LF, RF, and DM were 64%, 51%, 28%, 32%, 9%, and 39% respectively. MVA showed that poor performance status (PS: 1-2 vs. 0) and age > 52 years were predictive of worse OS. In comparison, poor PS (1-2 vs. 0) and total dose of rRT < 60 Gy were predictive of worse DFS. Late RTOG toxicity of grade 3 ≥ was reported in nine (18.3%) patients. FCRR at 2 years after salvage rRT for rHNC was higher than other traditional endpoints and could be an important endpoint to be included in future rRT studies. rRT for rHNC at our cohort was relatively successful, with a manageable level of late severe toxicity. Replacing this approach in other developing countries is a viable option.

The prevalence of diabetes distress among patients with type 2 diabetes in Jordan.

Objectives: Diabetes distress (DD) is a state of emotional distress that evolves from living with chronic disease and the burden of daily adjustments of medications and lifestyle. This study investigated the prevalence of DD in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in Jordan and the related sociodemographic and medical factors. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study in 608 patients with T2DM in Jordan, ranging from ages 15 to 80 years. The participants filled out a questionnaire where they were asked to self-assess their DD using the Diabetes Distress Scale. In all, 32 participants were excluded according to the exclusion criteria, which resulted in 576 people being included in this study. Results: The overall prevalence of DD was 53% (25% had moderate distress and 28% had high distress). Emotional distress had the highest prevalence among the DD subscales, with a total prevalence of 58.8%. The data showed a significant association of DD with different factors including age, the presence of diabetic complications, the type of medication used, and medication adherence. Conclusion: This study showed a high prevalence of DD (53%). This finding should raise awareness to healthcare providers about the importance of screening for DD as part of the treatment guidelines, especially in patients who are on multiple medication regimens for DM; patients who have previous medical complications related to DM; and those who exhibit poor adherence to medications, which was found to be a risk factor of DD in this study.

Concordance between head and neck MRI and histopathology in detecting laryngeal subsite invasion among patients with laryngeal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Accuracy of head and neck MRI (HN-MRI) in predicting tumor invasion of laryngeal site/subsites in patients with laryngeal cancer prior to laryngectomy is poorly evaluated in the literature. Therefore, we aim to evaluate the diagnostic value of HN-MRI in accurate pre-operative estimation of tumor invasion to laryngeal subsites in patients with laryngeal cancer. METHODS: Patients with laryngeal cancer who underwent HN-MRI for cancer staging and underwent total laryngectomy between 2008 and 2021 were included. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and overall accuracy of HN-MRI in predicting tumor invasion of laryngeal subsites were calculated based on concordance between the HN-MRI and histopathological results. RESULTS: One hundred and thirty-seven patients underwent total laryngectomy [primary: 82/137(60%), salvage 55/137(40%)]. The utilization of HN-MRI resulted in the downstaging of 16/137 (11.6%) patients and the upstaging of 8/137 (5.8%) patients. For the whole cohort, there was a significant discordance between HN-MRI and histopathology for T-category; out of 116 cT4a disease, 102(87.9%) were confirmed to have pT4a disease, and out of 17 cT3 disease, 9(52.9%) were confirmed to have pT3 disease, p < 0.001. The MRI overall diagnostic accuracy of predicting tumor invasion was 91%, 92%, 82%, 87%, 72%, 76%, 65% and 68% for base of tongue, arytenoid, vocal cord, posterior commissure, pre-epiglottic space, cricoid cartilage, inner thyroid cortex, and subglottis, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with laryngeal cancer undergoing total laryngectomy, HN-MRI demonstrates promising accuracy in predicting tumor invasion of specific laryngeal subsites (e.g., base of tongue). Our findings showed the potential of HN-MRI as a valuable tool for pre-operative planning and treatment decision-making in this patient population.

Primary radiation therapy for advanced-stage laryngeal cancer: A laryngo-esophageal dysfunction disease-free survival.

Objectives: To evaluate the outcomes of advanced-stage laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) patients treated with functional-preservation strategy with a specific focus on laryngo-esophageal dysfunction disease-free survival (LEDDFS). Methods and materials: A retrospective review was conducted of stage III-IVB laryngeal SCC patients who were treated with curative-intent radiotherapy (RT) (2007-2018). Patients were preferentially managed with upfront chemoradiation (CCRT); except for those with cN2-3, cT4, or large volume cT3 (induction chemotherapy followed by RT or CCRT is an option), and those who were unfit or declined chemotherapy (received altered RT). The primary endpoint was 3-year LEDDFS, and secondary endpoints were 3-year local failure (LF), regional failure (RF), distant metastasis (DM), overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and acute and late toxicities. Cox proportional hazard tests were used for multivariable analysis (MVA). Results: A total of 213 cases were included. With a median follow-up of 37 months, the 3-year LEDDFS was 50%, while the 3-year OS, DFS, LF, RF, and DM were 81%, 74%, 9%, 5%, and 7%, respectively. On MVA, cT4-category was the only predictor of inferior LEDDFS (HR: 0.47, [95% CI: 0.29-0.74], p < .01). The most common grade ≥ 3 acute and late radiation therapy oncology group (RTOG) toxicity were esophageal toxicity: 16.7% and 29.6%, respectively. Conclusions: Primary RT resulted in favorable oncologic and functional outcomes in only half of the advanced-stage laryngeal cancer patients. Future clinical trials are required to investigate further treatment options aiming to improve the oncologic and maintain functional outcomes with utilization of LEDDFS as the primary endpoint. Level of evidence: 4.