Postoperative Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy Versus Radiotherapy Alone for Advanced Oral Cavity Cancer in the Era of Modern Radiation Techniques

Background/PurposeSurgery followed by postoperative radiotherapy (RT) has been considered the standard treatment for oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) of advanced stages or with adverse prognostic factors. In this study, we compared the outcomes in patients with OCSCC who received postoperative concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) or postoperative RT alone using modern RT techniques.MethodsA total of 275 patients with OCSCC treated between 2002 and 2018 were retrospectively analyzed. Adverse prognostic factor was defined as extranodal extension (ENE), microscopically involved surgical margin, involvement of ≥2 lymph nodes, perineural disease, and/or lymphovascular invasion (LVI). In total, 148 patients (54%) received CCRT and 127 patients (46%) received RT alone. More patients in the CCRT group had N3 disease and stage IVB disease (46.6% vs. 10.2%, p