Patterns of Care and Outcomes Associated With Intensity-Modulated Radiation Therapy Versus Conventional Radiation Therapy for Older Patients With Head-and-Neck Cancer

Journal Article · Tue May 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/J.IJROBP.2011.11.067· OSTI ID:22056339

Soulos, Pamela R ^[1]; Sharma, Richa ^[2]; Makarov, Danil V ^[1]; Decker, Roy H ^[3]; Smith, Benjamin D ^[4]; Desai, Rani A ^[5]; Cramer, Laura D ^[1]; Gross, Cary P ^[1]

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1. Cancer Outcomes, Public Policy, and Effectiveness Research Center at Yale, New Haven, CT (United States)
2. Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC (United States)
3. Department of Therapeutic Radiology, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT (United States)
4. Department of Radiation Oncology, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX (United States)
5. Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT (United States)

Purpose: Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) requires a high degree of expertise compared with standard radiation therapy (RT). We performed a retrospective cohort study of Medicare patients treated with IMRT compared with standard RT to assess outcomes in national practice. Methods and Materials: Using the National Cancer Institute's Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare linked database, we identified patients treated with radiation for cancer of the head and neck from 2002 to 2005. We used multivariate Cox models to determine whether the receipt of IMRT was associated with differences in survival. Results: We identified 1613 patients, 33.7% of whom received IMRT. IMRT was not associated with differences in survival: the 3-year overall survival was 50.5% for IMRT vs. 49.6% for standard RT (p = 0.47). The 3-year cancer-specific survival was 60.0% for IMRT vs. 58.8% (p = 0.45). Conclusion: Despite its complexity and resource intensive nature, IMRT use seems to be as safe as standard RT in national community practice, because the use of IMRT did not have an adverse impact on survival.

• OSTI ID: 22056339
• Journal Information: International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics, Vol. 83, Issue 1; Other Information: Copyright (c) 2012 Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam, The Netherlands, All rights reserved.; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0360-3016
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

62 RADIOLOGY AND NUCLEAR MEDICINE
EPIDEMIOLOGY
HEAD
MULTIVARIATE ANALYSIS
NECK
NEOPLASMS
PATIENTS
RADIOTHERAPY