Surgery Improves HPV Related Oropharyngeal SCC Survival Rate

HealthDay News — Patients with human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) have higher 5-year overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) rates after surgery alone, according to a study published in Head & Neck.

Martina A. Broglie, MD, from Kantonsspital St. Gallen in Switzerland, and colleagues conducted a retrospective analysis of survival estimates in patients with surgically treated oropharyngeal SCC, stratifying by tumoral positivity for HPV and risk-of-death categories.

The researchers found that HPV-associated oropharyngeal SCC correlated with higher 5-year OS (80% vs 62%; P = .01) and DSS (92% vs 76%; P = .03) rates after surgery alone. 

Higher survival rates were seen for patients in the low-risk category (OS: 91%; DSS: 99%), compared with the intermediate-risk (OS: 63%; DSS: 83%) and high-risk (OS: 61%; DSS: 75%) groups.

“Nonsmokers with HPV-positive oropharyngeal SCC have a better prognosis than smokers with HPV-positive oropharyngeal SCC and also than patients with HPV-negative tumors when treated by surgery alone,” the authors write.

Reference

Broglie MA, Stoeckli SJ, Sauter R, et al. Impact of human papillomavirus on outcome in patients with oropharyngeal cancer treated with primary surgery [published online July 10, 2017]. Head Neck. doi: 10.1002/hed.24865