Search

Induction chemotherapy-based larynx preservation protocols use chemotherapy to select exclusively patients with 'chemosensitive' tumors for a nonsurgical treatment with radiation therapy. This study on pyriform sinus squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is interested in the oncological outcome of treatment based on radiation therapy when offered to patients with tumors responding to induction chemotherapy. This was a retrospective cohort study. The cohort included good responders to induction chemotherapy, subsequently treated with definite radiation therapy (with or without concomitant chemotherapy) for pyriform sinus SCC, in a tertiary referral cancer center. The primary endpoints were overall, laryngectomy-free and disease-free survival and the secondary endpoints were analysis of treatment failures and possibilities of salvage treatment. Forty-two patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were retained for analysis; 7% were stage II (3/42), 48% stage III (20/42) and 45% stage IV (19/42). At 1, 3 and 5 years, the overall survival was 95% (40/42), 74% (31/42), and 60% (SE ≈ 0.08), respectively. For the same intervals, the laryngectomy-free survival was 90% (38/42), 69% (29/42) and 50% (SE ≈ 0.08), respectively. The estimated 5-year disease-free survival was also 50%. Disease-free survival was significantly better for N0 patients. There was a 28% recurrence rate, mainly in the primary tumor site (9/11), with or without simultaneous nodal recurrence. Interestingly, more than one-third of all oncologic failures occurred beyond the first 3 years of follow-up. Salvage treatment was not possible or definitely inefficient in at least 2/3 of all recurrences. In candidates for larynx preservation for a pyriform sinus SCC, good response to induction chemotherapy followed by definite radiation therapy seems to be associated with a more favorable prognosis. Nevertheless, in case of locoregional recurrence the possibilities for efficient salvage treatment are limited.

Background/aims: Larynx preservation for laryngopharyngeal carcinomas aims to avoid the mutilation of a total laryngectomy without compromising survival or functionality. The aim of the present study on pyriform sinus squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is to evaluate the long-term functional outcomes of larynx preservation in good responders to induction chemotherapy (ICT)., Methods: The study was carried out in a tertiary referral cancer center in France. The subjects were good responders to ICT for pyriform sinus SCC, subsequently treated with adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) - with or without concomitant chemotherapy - between 1999 and 2008. Only patients without recurrence at 3 years were included. The evaluated pharyngolaryngeal functions were airway patency, oral communication and oral feeding, based on a self-administered questionnaire and the patients' medical records., Results: Twenty-eight patients were retained. Two (7%) patients needed a tracheotomy during or after the treatment and 2 (7%) had total laryngectomy for a late local recurrence. At least 3 years after the end of treatment, all patients were exclusively fed by mouth. All the evaluated patients judged their voice performance as 'adequate for everyday oral communication'., Conclusions: In the long run, patients with pyriform sinus SCC who are candidates for larynx preservation and respond favorably to ICT present a satisfactory functional outcome when treated with adjuvant RT., (© 2014 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Introduction: Fewer than 250 primary tumors of the lacrimal duct have been reported in the international literature. Because their signs and symptoms are nonspecific and usually subclinical, delayed diagnosis is common. Treatment for malignant epithelial tumors is surgical, with or without radiation., Patients and Methods: The present study is a retrospective analysis of five patients with malignant lacrimal duct tumors., Results: Three patients were diagnosed with carcinoma requiring wide en bloc surgical resection with surgical reconstruction. One underwent adjuvant radiation therapy. Another experienced simultaneous local and lymph node recurrence after 3 years and underwent curative surgery. Two additional patients were diagnosed with diffuse malignant large B-cell non-Hodgkins lymphoma., Discussion: Early symptoms of lacrimal duct tumors are nonspecific and mimic acute dacryocystitis. Lacrimal system CT, MRI and rhinoscopy may allow for earlier diagnosis. Surgical treatment requires resection with wide margins and reconstruction of the medial canthal region., Conclusion: Only an early diagnosis can reduce the impairment related to surgery and the extent of the required reconstruction, as well as improve survival., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.)

Background and Purpose: To report the long-term results after definitive radiotherapy (RT) for pyriform sinus squamous cell carcinoma (SCC)., Material and Methods: The data concerning all patients treated for pyriform sinus SCC with RT with a curative intent between 1990 and 2006 were reviewed., Results: A total of 249 patients were included. The median follow-up is 6.5 years. Overall 123 patients had relapsed. For the entire population, the 5-year local control, regional control, freedom-from-distant metastasis, and overall survival rate were 68%, 69%, 78% and 38%, respectively. The 5-year local control rate for the 107 T1-T2 tumors was 85% (95% confidence interval (CI): 75-91). N stage was the main risk factor for the development of distant metastases, with a hazard ratio of 8.9 (95% CI: 2.1-39) and 15.6 (95% CI: 3.6-67.8) for N2 and N3 patients respectively. For patients with N2-N3 disease, pre-RT neck dissection improved regional control but not overall survival. Moderate to severe late complications occurred in 50 patients (28% of the patients without local relapse)., Conclusion: A high local control rate can be achieved when treating T1-T2 hypopharynx cancers with definitive radiotherapy. The high rate of nodal and distant relapses among patients with N2-N3 disease warrants intensification of therapy., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Conclusion: Prognosis was very poor as soon as a local failure developed. Up-front treatment should be optimized to control this rare disease. We propose producing and reporting recommendations via a concerted oncologic physician referral network., Objectives: Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in young people is rare and the literature is confusing. This study was carried out to assess the demographics, clinical features, and treatment outcome in a cohort of patients aged 35 years or less with SCC of the oral tongue (SCCOT)., Patients and Methods: This was a multicenter retrospective study. Fifty-two patients treated between 1990 and 2000 were identified. Descriptive statistics were analyzed to assess demographic and tumor variables., Results: The WHO performance status was excellent for all patients. Thirty-seven were classified as T1-T2 and 38 were N0. All of them except one were treated with curative intent. Treatment failures were observed in 25 patients (48%). Four patients could be successfully salvaged after SCCOT recurrence or progression. The disease-free survival (DFS) was 52% at 5 years. The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate was 64%. Factors that affected the OS were invasion of the floor (p=0.009), cross over of the midline (p=0.02), positive lymph nodes (p=0.02), and the lack of disease control (p=0.0001).

Patients and Methods: Between 1974 and 1997, 297 patients underwent a subtotal laryngectomy at the Institut Gustave-Roussy; 146 of these patients underwent cricohyoidopexy (CHP) for a supraglottic primary as their first treatment. The majority of patients were men (137) aged from 33 to 78 years (median 54 years). The tumour stage at presentation was T1 in 2, T2 in 87, T3 in 53 (preepiglottic space involvement), and T4 (minimal thyroid cartilage invasion) in 4 patients. One hundred and twenty-five patients were N0 (86%) and 21 patients were Np (palpable); 98% had homolateral and 55% had bilateral neck dissections., Results: One patient died postoperatively of a myocardial infarction and 68% patients had an uneventful course. Aspiration was the commonest complication (23 patients, 19%). The median time to removal of the tracheotomy cannula was 10 days and for the nasogastric tube 21 days during the past 10 years. Completion of subtotal laryngectomy into total laryngectomy was done in 21 cases (15%): eight times because of oncological events [five local failures, two second primary (hypopharynx), one positive margin] and 13 times because of aspiration (9%). There were six local failures (4%) and eight nodal failures (5%). The rates of distant metastases and second primaries were 6% and 16% respectively. Half of the local and nodal failures were subsequently sterilized. Findings at death were two local recurrences, four nodal recurrences, eight distant metastases, and 11 second primaries. The 3- and 5-year overall survival rates were 92% and 88% respectively, with an overall laryngeal preservation rate of 86%., Conclusion: When supraglottic laryngectomy is not feasible for supraglottic cancer, subtotal laryngectomy with CHP is a safe and effective oncological procedure, with preservation of satisfactory laryngeal function.

Background: The optimal primary treatment for posterior pharyngeal wall tumors remains controversial., Methods: To assess the relevance of surgical treatment from a functional and oncologic point of view, we reviewed the cases of 77 patients surgically treated between 1984 and 1995. Among them 23 had been previously irradiated. Fifty-five patients underwent a conservative surgery (CS) sparing the larynx; 19 direct closures, 6 reconstructions of the posterior wall with a thoracic myocutaneous flap, 15 with a platysma flap, and 15 with a free forearm flap were performed. Twenty-two patients underwent radical surgery (RS). All previously untreated patients had postoperative radiotherapy. The functional assessment concerned the CS group. Oncologic results, especially local control and survival were studied for the whole group., Results: Of the 55 patients who underwent CS, 53 (96%) had their canula and 49 (89%) their feeding tube removed. At 1 year, in the platysma and free forearm groups, 21 of the 24 assessable patients were back to exclusive oral intake. For patients treated by primary surgery followed by radiotherapy, the rate of local failure was 11% (18% for tumors greater than 4 cm), and the 5-year survival rate was 35%. For patients who had previous radiotherapy, the rates were, respectively, 52% and 16%., Conclusion: The satisfactory functional results, caused by the improvement of reconstructive procedures, allow conservative surgery even in the case of large tumors. Oncologic results, especially local control, suggest that primary surgery followed by radiotherapy is effective for the treatment of posterior wall cancer. The oncologic results of surgery in a previously irradiated area are poor, and CS is not recommended in these cases.

Forty patients were treated or followed up for aesthesioneuroblastoma between 1980 and 1995 at Institut Gustave Roussy, France. There were three T1, seven T2, 15 T3 and 15 T4 lesions. The cervical metastatic rate at presentation was 18 per cent. Distant metastases were detected by bone marrow biopsy and bone scan in three patients at presentation. Treatment modalities included surgery alone in eight patients, radiotherapy alone in three patients, combined modality surgery plus radiotherapy in 11 patients, chemotherapy alone in two patients, chemotherapy plus radiotherapy in 10 patients, and multimodality therapy chemotherapy plus surgery plus radiotherapy in six patients. The five-year survival rate was 51 per cent. Multimodality treatment offered better survival (63 per cent at five years) and disease-free interval (54 months). Overall local, regional, and distant failure rates were 58 per cent, 15 per cent and 40 per cent respectively. Distant metastases commonly occurred in bone (82 per cent). Cervical metastasis was an unfavourable prognostic indicator (0 per cent survival at two years). In conclusion, aesthesioneuroblastoma is sensitive to chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Multimodality therapy should be used initially.

We report a series of 174 percutaneous gastrostomies implanted in our interventional radiology unit in patients with cancer of the upper airway and upper digestive tract: two localizations, hypopharynx and oropharynx comprised 68% of the cases (106/174). Tumor stage had reached palliative treatment in 80 cases, was in the initial phase of treatment in 57 cases and was in a sequelae phase after treatment in 37 cases. Despite problems related to anatomic modifications and tumor volume or sequelae of prior or ongoing treatment, we did not record any failures. The rate of minor complications was 15%. The one severe complication (peritonitis) required laparotomy. The duration of enteral nutrition via the gastrostomy varied from 3 weeks to more than 3 years. There were no long-term complications. We thus suggest that interventional percutaneous gastrostomy is a useful alternative to endoscopic percutaneous gastrostomy or the nasoesophageal tube, particularly in patients with voluminous tumors restricting the hypopharynx and oropharynx.

Among the various procedures of pharyngeal reconstruction after circumferential pharyngolaryngectomy, the free jejunal autograft (FJA) has become a common one. We retrospectively reviewed 73 cases of reconstruction with FJA after resection for advanced hypopharyngeal carcinomas (70 primary reconstructions, 3 secondary reconstructions). Postoperative outcome, functional and carcinologic results were studied. There were 1 postoperative death, medical complications in 19 patients, 4 graft failures (5.5%), 11 salivary fistulas. The nasogastric tube was removed before the 15th day in more than a half of the patients. One year postoperatively all the evaluable patients were able to take an oral diet (solid or soft diet for 97% of them). The postoperative radiotherapy was well tolerated. Cancer developed further in 33 patients (13 local and/or nodal recurrences, 13 isolated metastasis, 7 second primaries). The overall survival rate was 44.8% at three years. It seems clear that FJA allows good functional results and increases the quality of life in such patients with poor prognosis.

This study examines the changes in tumor pO2 distribution assessed by polarography (KIMOC 6650, Eppendorf) in 1) two human tumor xenografts after carbogen inhalation with or without a perflubron (perfluorooctylbromide) emulsion (Oxygent, Alliance Pharmaceutical corp.) and in 2) human head and neck carcinomas after carbogen inhalation. Mice bearing HRT18 or NA11+ tumors were restrained and their body temperature was kept constant. Perflubron emulsion (4 ml/kg) was injected i.v. in the mice. In patients, oxygenation of the head and neck metastatic lymph nodes was assessed before and/or during carbogen exposure. The distribution of pO2 values shifted upwards during carbogen exposure in both animals and patients while the proportion of low pO2 values decreased. The maximal effect was obtained with patients after 1 to 6 minutes of carbogen exposure, but 4 patients still maintained very low pO2s. Carbogen plus 4 ml/kg perflubron emulsion was more efficient than carbogen alone for increasing hypoxic tumor pO2 in animals. If the animals data could be extrapolated to humans, then the effect of carbogen on tumor oxygenation should be increased by perflubron emulsion administration.

The oxygenation of head and neck tumors and changes during carbogen breathing were assessed in 20 patients. The median oxygen tension (pO2) for each patient was lower in tumors before breathing carbogen than in normal tissues. The median pooled pO2 of all the tumors was 20 mmHg; for normal tissue it was 60 mmHg. Low values (below 10 mmHg) were found in 4 patients for the normal tissue and in 18 patients for tumors. During carbogen breathing, the median (61 mmHg) pO2 readings for all tumors was higher than that recorded before carbogen breathing. The frequency of low (< 10 mmHg) pO2 values decreased with carbogen breathing in 11 patients; only 4 patients still exhibited very low values (< 2 mmHg). Maximal effect was obtained within 1-6 min of gas exposure. The pO2 stayed high under carbogen breathing in 15 out of 16 patients. Return to pre-carbogen levels of oxygenation occurred in 1 min after the end of gas exposure. These data suggest that carbogen breathing increases tumor oxygenation as assessed by polarography. The breathing time appears to be important for therapeutical use and should to be taken into consideration.

Background: Tumor hypoxia could play a role in the response to radiation therapy. Few data are available on oxygen tension (pO2) measurements in head and neck tumors., Methods: The KIMOC-6650 Histograph (Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany) was used to measure the oxygenation status of normal tissues and head and neck tumors in 20 patients., Results: The median pO2 for normal tissues was 43 mmHg with very low pO2 values (2.0 mmHg or less) recorded in two patients. Low median pO2 levels (10 mmHg or less) were recorded in 2 of 5 primary tumors and in 11 of 15 metastatic lymphadenopathies, with very low values in 11 nodes. The median pO2 in tumors was lower than that of normal tissues in 12 of 15 patients with comparative measurements. Oxygen tension was recorded in three nodes after an evaluation of tissue density (by computed tomographic scanner); in two nodes, the mean and median pO2 values were lower in the hypodense areas than in isodense areas. The data for N2 and N3 nodes showed significantly more values below 2.0 mmHg as nodal size increased (P < 10(-4), by chi-square test). No systematic decrease in pO2 was recorded from the periphery to the center of the tumors., Conclusions: Very low pO2 values, corresponding to radiobiologic hypoxia, were found in most of these tumors. The prognostic value of these pO2 measurements in regard to treatment response remains to be demonstrated.

We have attempted to improve negative selection procedures for the large scale purification of human CD-3 CD56+ NK cells. In a series of experiments, purifications of NK cells from 10(8) PBMC were performed by T cell depletion using either direct or indirect anti-CD3 labeling and the Magnetic Activated Cell Separation (MACS) procedure. Contaminating CD3+ cells were still present using either one of these two different T cell depletion protocols as shown by phenotyping IL-2 supplemented cell cultures on day 12. A second cycle of purification was therefore added. When MACS and Dynabeads were compared as complementary procedures to the first MACS cycle starting with 10(8) cells, the Dynabeads method was found to be superior to the MACS with regard to the elimination of residual T cells. Starting from 10(9) PBMC, we showed that this MACS+Dynabeads procedure gave similar satisfactory results when compared to the scaling-up of a previously established two steps procedure using Dynabeads. These two approaches (MACS+Dynabeads and 2 cycles of Dynabeads) have been also tested in a clinical setting to purify NK cells from cancer patients prior to in vitro expansion. The results indicate that the two methods are equivalent with respect to purity and recovery rate; a slight advantage in terms of feasibility was found in favor of 2 cycles of Dynabeads.

Three hundred and thirty-one patients, aged more than 70 years, were treated for an upper aerodigestive tract carcinoma from 1978 to 1983. Larynx accounted for 28% of the primary sites, oropharynx for 27%, and the oral cavity for 16%. One-third of these patients had a contraindication to anesthesia. The treatment was consistent with our protocols in only half of the cases. Fifty-nine patients underwent a radiosurgical combination; 249 underwent an exclusive irradiation with a curative intent. Fifty-four patients underwent a palliative irradiation, which lead up to a "curative dose" in half of the cases. The immediate and long-term tolerance of the irradiation was good. The local control was 71% for patients treated with a curative intent and 19% for the palliatively irradiated patients. Five-year survival of the population was 33%. No significant relationship between age, general status, and the carcinologic outcome could be observed.

The first part of the study was devoted to 199 tumors treated by surgery, either conservative for the smallest tumors (18 cases) or radical (181 cases), with systematic postoperative radiotherapy. The 3-year survival rate was 48% and the 5-year, 33%, with a 12% local recurrence rate, a 7.5% neck recurrence rate, and 27.6% rate distant metastases. Histologic correlations were developed. The second part of the study reported 152 cases treated by external radiotherapy alone either as a variant of our treatment protocol for the small-sized tumors (31 cases) or, for the major part (121 cases), as a result of surgical inoperability or patient refusal. The former subgroup had a variable survival rate (65% at 3 years and 40% at 5 years) equivalent to similarly staged patients treated with conservation laryngeal surgery, whereas the prognosis of the latter subgroup was poor. The two main causes of failure were the inability to apply the curative treatment protocol in 35% of patients ineligible for a surgery and the high risk of distant metastases in the 65% of patients able to undergo the usual management.