To evaluate the treatment results of high-dose stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) in patients with primary mucosal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the head and neck who are unfit for radical treatment.
Approach:
Patient Selection: Retrospective review of 74 patients diagnosed with primary SCC mucosal HNC treated with SBRT (35–50 Gy in 5 fractions) from 2011 to 2022.
Treatment Characteristics: SBRT was delivered using IMRT or VMAT with daily kilovoltage cone-beam CT for setup verification. Treatment plans were reviewed weekly for quality assurance.
Outcomes and Statistics: Outcomes measured included local failure (LF), regional recurrence (RR), overall survival (OS), and progression-free survival (PFS) using Kaplan-Meier plots and univariate Cox proportional hazard models.
Key Findings:
SBRT provided effective treatment with symptom relief and durable local control.
Patients experienced acceptable toxicity levels.
Interpretation:
Limitations:
The study is a single-center retrospective analysis, which may limit generalizability.
The sample size of 74 patients may not be sufficient to draw broad conclusions.
by Mohammed Aldohan, Irene Karam, Amir H. Safavi, Lee Chin, Liying Zhang, Ethan Gooanratne, Madette Galapin, Antoine Eskander, Kevin Higgins, Danny Enepekides, Ian Poon
