Abstract

Major weight loss is common in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) who undergo radiotherapy (RT). How baseline and posttreatment body composition affects outcome is unknown.To determine whether lean body mass before and after RT for HNSCC predicts survival and locoregional control.Retrospective study of 2840 patients with pathologically proven HNSCC undergoing curative RT at a single academic cancer referral center from October 1, 2003, to August 31, 2013. One hundred ninety patients had computed tomographic (CT) scans available for analysis of skeletal muscle (SM). The effect of pre-RT and post-RT SM depletion (defined as a CT-measured L3 SM index of less than 52.4 cm2/m2 for men and less than 38.5 cm2/m2 for women) on survival and disease control was evaluated. Final follow-up was completed on September 27, 2014, and data were analyzed from October 1, 2014, to November 29, 2015.Primary outcomes were overall and disease-specific survival and locoregional control. Secondary analyses included the influence of pre-RT body mass index (BMI) and interscan weight loss on survival and recurrence.Among the 2840 consecutive patients who underwent screening, 190 had whole-body positron emission tomography-CT or abdominal CT scans before and after RT and were included for analysis. Of these, 160 (84.2%) were men and 30 (15.8%) were women; their mean (SD) age was 57.7 (9.4) years. Median follow up was 68.6 months. Skeletal muscle depletion was detected in 67 patients (35.3%) before RT and an additional 58 patients (30.5%) after RT. Decreased overall survival was predicted by SM depletion before RT (hazard ratio [HR], 1.92; 95% CI, 1.19-3.11; P?=?.007) and after RT (HR, 2.03; 95% CI, 1.02-4.24; P?=?.04). Increased BMI was associated with significantly improved survival (HR per 1-U increase in BMI, 0.91; 95% CI, 0.87-0.96; P?

View details for DOI 10.1001/jamaoncol.2015.6339

View details for PubMedID 26891703