Pretreatment hemoglobin level as a prognostic factor in patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Aim: Evaluate pretreatment hemoglobin values as a prognostic factor in patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma treated with concurrent chemoradiotherapy.
Background: Anemia is one of the most prevalent laboratory abnormalities in oncological disease. It leads to a decrease in cellular oxygen supply, altering radiosensitivity of tumor cells and compromising therapeutic outcomes.
Materials and Methods: Retrospective evaluation of patients with HNSCC treated with cCRT. Primary and secondary endpoint was to evaluate the correlation of Hb levels (≥12.5 g/dL or <12.5 g/dL) at the beginning of cCRT with overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS), respectively.
Results: A total of 108 patients were identified. With a median follow-up of 16.10 months median OS was 59.70 months for Hb ≥12.5 g/dL vs. 14.13 months for Hb <12.5 g/dL ( p  = 0.004). PFS was 12.29 months for Hb ≥12.5 g/dL and 1.68 months for Hb <12.5 g/dL ( p  = 0.016).
Conclusions: In this analysis, Hb ≥12.5 g/dL correlated with significantly better OS and PFS. Further studies are needed to validate these findings.
(© 2020 Greater Poland Cancer Centre. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)