Abstract
Objectives/Hypothesis To report tolerance and toxicity of radiotherapy (RT) with or without chemotherapy in HIV seropositive patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). Methods This is a single institution retrospective study of 73 HIV seropositive patients with SCCHN treated from January 1997 through 2010. Stages I, II, III, and IV were 8%, 10%, 24%, and 58%, respectively. The median age at RT, HIV diagnosis. and the duration of HIV seropositive were 51 (32-72), 34 (25-50), and 11 (6-20) years, respectively. Patients were treated definitively with RT alone (35%) or concurrent chemo-RT (65%). Median dose of 70 Gy (66-70) was delivered to the gross disease. Median duration of treatment was 52 (49-64) days. Fifty patients (70%) were on HAART. Results RT± chemotherapy induced acute toxicity was: median weight loss 20 pounds (6-40), 100% developed dysgeusia and xerostomia (grades 1-3). Acute mucositis and dysphagia/odynophagia grades ≤2 and 3 were 83% and 17%, respectively. Treatment breaks in excess of 10, 7, and 3 days were found in 5%, 13%, and 15% of patients, respectively. With a median follow-up of 4 years (2-12) the RT ±chemotherapy induced late dysphagia and xerostomia grades >2 were 26% and 23% of patients, respectively. Conclusion Our data show that primary RT ±chemotherapy for HIV seropositive SCCHN is less tolerated compared to the historical data for SCCHN without HIV.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 1178-1183 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Laryngoscope |
Volume | 123 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - May 2013 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- CD4
- HAART
- HIV
- IMRT
- Tolerance and toxicity
- chemotherapy
- radiotherapy
- squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Otorhinolaryngology