Practice Patterns for Oropharyngeal Cancer in Radiation Oncology Centers of Turkey

Abstract

Across all the centers there were small differences in the pretreatment evaluation of patients with oropharyngeal cancer. The greatest difference was in the technical delivery of radiation, with most of the centers using conformal radiotherapy despite the increasing availability of intensity-modulated radiotherapy. The use of chemotherapy has more readily adopted the current international standards in the treatment of oropharyngeal cancer.

Is There a Difference in Staging and Treatment of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Tumors Between Tertiary Care and Community‐Based Institutions?

“…Previous studies have indicated that reinterpretation of imaging in the setting of a multidisciplinary cancer center has a significant effect on staging, management, and prognosis. 9,23,24 As our data shows, roughly half of the patients evaluated with staging changes had this change made in the context of review by a multidisciplinary tumor board.…”

“…7 When determining what led to the difference, studies have implicated factors such as the volume of treatments rendered at the facilities, 8 technical expertise, 9 as well as multidisciplinary team management. 3,9 In one study examining 1195 Medicare patients with advanced head and neck cancer treated at high-and low-volume centers, patients were found to have nearly statistically significant better survival at high volume hospitals despite no association found in receiving multimodality therapy. 10 This implies that survival-promoting features of high volume hospitals extend beyond guideline adherence.…”

“…One such study evaluating patients with local advanced head and neck cancer undergoing definitive radiotherapy found that treatment at high‐volume facilities and academic centers is independently associated with improved survival, using the National Cancer Data Base to include over 46,000 patients . When determining what led to the difference, studies have implicated factors such as the volume of treatments rendered at the facilities, technical expertise, as well as multidisciplinary team management . In one study examining 1195 Medicare patients with advanced head and neck cancer treated at high‐ and low‐volume centers, patients were found to have nearly statistically significant better survival at high volume hospitals despite no association found in receiving multimodality therapy .…”