Survival analysis of patients with advanced hypopharyngeal cancer comparing patients who received primary surgery to those who received chemoradiation: An analysis of the NCDB

Introduction: The objective of this study was to use the American College of Surgeons’ National Cancer Database (NCDB) to examine the association between primary treatment and overall survival (OS) among patients with locoregionally advanced hypopharyngeal cancer. Methods: 6,055 adult patients diagnosed between 2004 and 2015 with stage III or IV, M0, hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma were identified within the NCDB. Patients who received primary chemoradiation (CRT) were compared to those that received surgery with adjuvant radiation or chemoradiation (S + Adj). OS was compared between treatment groups using Kaplan-Meier analyses, propensity score adjustment, and Cox regression analyses. Results: The median survival was 22.7 months (IQR 11.0–49.0). The S + Adj group had a significantly higher comorbidity score, higher grade disease, and more advanced stage disease than the CRT group. S + Adj was associated with significantly improved survival when compared to CRT (p < 0.0001). A propensity score adjusting for facility type, facility location, care at multiple facilities, histology, and T stage was developed. S + Adj was associated with longer survival (HR: 0.72, 95% CI: 0.64–0.80) when compared to CRT in a multivariable Cox regression analysis (adjusting for age, race and ethnicity, insurance status, a comorbidity index, diagnosis year, treatment delay, N stage, and the propensity score). S + Adj was associated with significantly improved survival among those with T2 disease (p = 0.02), T3 disease (p = 0.02), and T4 disease (p < 0.0001) in sensitivity analyses examining these subcohorts independently. Conclusions: Among patients with advanced hypopharyngeal cancer reported in NCDB, treatment with S + Adj was associated with longer survival compared to those treated with primary CRT.