Age Alone Is Not a Barrier to Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy for Advanced Head and Neck Cancer

Head and Neck Cancer (HNC) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality, especially when high stage disease is present. There exists a range of options for the management of locoregionally advanced HNC, though doubt remains as to the optimal strategy in the elderly population.

To evaluate the benefits imparted by concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) to the elderly population of HNC patients in Ireland.

A retrospective cohort study was conducted using 20 years of cancer registry data provided by the National Cancer Registry of Ireland. Cox multivariate regression analysis was applied to test for the benefits of CCRT in HNC.

Survival analysis showed an overall benefit to the use of CCRT in patients with advanced disease over 70 years, particularly when used for hypopharyngeal, oropharyngeal, and laryngeal malignancy. There was a benefit to cancer-specific but not all-cause mortality in those over 75 years, and no benefit was observed to the addition of chemotherapy in those over 80 years; only 8 patients over 80 received CCRT. There was no statistically significant difference in the benefits derived by those over 70 years relative to those under 70 years.

CCRT confers significant survival benefits to appropriately selected elderly HNC patients and should therefore not be withheld solely on the basis of age.