Survival and Treatment Patterns of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Real-world Data
Yostena Mekhail, Rasha Adel AbdelmoneumBackground:
Head and neck cancers (HNCs) represent a heterogeneous group of malignancies with substantial variation in epidemiology, clinicopathological characteristics, treatment approaches, and outcomes across tumor subsites. Real-world institutional data remain essential to understanding patterns of presentation and survival outside clinical trial settings.
Methods:
This retrospective study included head and neck squamous cell carcinoma treated at Menoufia University Hospitals between January 2020 and December 2023.
Results:
A total of 121 patients were analyzed. The most common primary subsite was the larynx (66 patients; 54.5%), followed by the oral cavity (27 patients; 22.3%) and nasopharynx (19 patients; 15.7%). Advanced stage IV tumors were most frequent in the oral cavity (59.2%). With a median follow-up of 45 months (range: 6–65), disease progression occurred in 43 patients (35.5%), and 39 patients (32.2%) died. The overall progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were 58.4% and 55.4%, respectively. Median PFS and OS were not reached for laryngeal and nasopharyngeal cancers, whereas oral cavity cancer showed inferior outcomes (median PFS 35.97 months; median OS 37.5 months). On multivariate analysis, performance status (PS) (hazard ratio [HR] 5.997,
Conclusions:
This real-world study demonstrates clear subsite-specific differences in presentation, management, and outcomes of HNCs. Advanced stage and poor PS remain the dominant predictors of survival, highlighting the need for earlier diagnosis and optimized multidisciplinary care.