95%!!!

tuffenuff
tuffenuff Member Posts: 277
in Head and Neck Cancer #1
just saw this article last night. unless i'm misunderstanding something, it looks like what i have and the treatment i'm getting is now resulting in a 95% 5 year survival rate!

http://www.redjournal.org/article/S0360-3016(11)02863-X/abstract

Comments

  • CivilMatt
    CivilMatt Member Posts: 4,724 Member
    #2
    95%, good number
    Hi tuffenuff,

    I have to be careful about how in-depth I read (SUPERTHREAD and elsewhere), it scares and bums me out. To be honest, I wish, what I read shows 95% survival. I have to believe everything will work out fine or I will go crazy. You know somebody is the 5%. I don’t intend to bury my head in the sand, but maybe if I had 10 years of NED’s I’d feel better.

    I think I am getting just about 100% honesty from this site. I’ve noticed a skip in my step since I crawled out from under the recovery blanket and started writing to you all. I do agree with John, about the charlatans each of us need to be aware of (another thread) on these sites.

    Happy to be here,

    Matt
  • tuffenuff
    tuffenuff Member Posts: 277
    #3
    it looks to me like the ones
    it looks to me like the ones beyond the 102 were treated otherwise, perhaps with radical neck dissection or other surgery? but yes, it says of the ones with the diagnostic tonsillectomy and unilateral radiotherapy, the 5 year survival is 95%.

    as for charlatans or whatever, i will take every bit of positive info i can get. this study was done at MD Anderson so i choose to trust the data. :o)
  • CivilMatt
    CivilMatt Member Posts: 4,724 Member
    #4
    tuffenuff said:

    it looks to me like the ones
    it looks to me like the ones beyond the 102 were treated otherwise, perhaps with radical neck dissection or other surgery? but yes, it says of the ones with the diagnostic tonsillectomy and unilateral radiotherapy, the 5 year survival is 95%.

    as for charlatans or whatever, i will take every bit of positive info i can get. this study was done at MD Anderson so i choose to trust the data. :o)

    Tuffenuff,
    The charlatans
    Tuffenuff,

    The charlatans were individuals to beware of, not prominent studies, hospitals or doctors.

    Sorry about that,

    Matt
  • Skiffin16
    Skiffin16 Member Posts: 8,305 Member
    #5
    Unilateral Radiotherapy Techniques
    I'm a little confused;

    Purpose
    To assess, through a retrospective review, clinical outcomes of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsil treated at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center with unilateral radiotherapy techniques that irradiate the involved tonsil region and ipsilateral neck only.

    Methods and Materials
    Of 901 patients with newly diagnosed squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsil treated with radiotherapy at our institution, we identified 102 that were treated using unilateral radiotherapy techniques. All patients had their primary site of disease restricted to the tonsillar fossa or anterior pillar, with <1 cm involvement of the soft palate. Patients had TX (n = 17 patients), T1 (n = 52), or T2 (n = 33) disease, with Nx (n = 3), N0 (n = 33), N1 (n = 23), N2a (n = 21), or N2b (n = 22) neck disease.</i>

    Results
    Sixty-one patients (60%) underwent diagnostic tonsillectomy before radiotherapy. Twenty-seven patients (26%) underwent excision of a cervical lymph node or neck dissection before radiotherapy. Median follow-up for surviving patients was 38 months. Locoregional control at the primary site and ipsilateral neck was 100%. Two patients experienced contralateral nodal recurrence (2%). The 5-year overall survival and disease-free survival rates were 95% and 96%, respectively. The 5-year freedom from contralateral nodal recurrence rate was 96%. Nine patients required feeding tubes during therapy. Of the 2 patients with contralateral recurrence, 1 experienced an isolated neck recurrence and was salvaged with contralateral neck dissection only and remains alive and free of disease. The other patient presented with a contralateral base of tongue tumor and involved cervical lymph node, which may have represented a second primary tumor, and died of disease.

    Conclusions
    Unilateral radiotherapy for patients with TX–T2, N0–N2b primary tonsil carcinoma results in high rates of disease control, with low rates of contralateral nodal failure and a low incidence of acute toxicity requiring gastrostomy.



    So are they saying out of 901 patients, they treated 102 with Unilateral Radiotherapy Techniques (one side). Of those 61 underwent diagnostic tonsillectomy before radiotherapy.

    Of those 61 patients, they had a 95% survival rate after 5 years?

    So is the presumption the others of the original 901, had radiation to both sides, but no tonsillectomy prior to radiation, and all of the 901 had nothing other than a primary site of the tonsils?

    JG
  • katenorwood
    katenorwood Member Posts: 1,912
    #6
    95%
    Hello !
    Awsome...hope everything goes great for you ! Katie

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