The Impact of Primary Tumor Volume on Survival of Patients with Non-Surgically Treated Advanced-Stage Hypopharyngeal Cancer- Retrospective Study and Literature Overview

To determine the prognostic value of tumor volume in predicting the survival in patients with stage III-IV of hypopharyngeal carcinoma. We studied 71 patients with advanced stage of hypopharyngeal carcinoma. The volume of primary tumor was calculated by approximation of the ellipsoid volume. Correlation between carcinoma volume and demographic, clinical and carcinoma characteristics has shown that male patients and patients consuming alcohol had greater tumor volumes. The median of overall survival was at 12 months (95% CI: 9.25-14.75); the median of progression-free survival was at 9 months (95% CI: 6.6-11.3). ROC Curve Analysis of carcinoma volumes in outcome prediction shows that the cutoff of 14.69 had the sensitivity of 61% and specifics of 89%. Based on significant independent impact of tumor volume on survival, it is important to include this parameter among possible new treatment protocols.