Small Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck: Update on the University of Florida Experience

Abstract

We updated the University of Florida experience treating head and neck small cell carcinoma. Eight patients received a median of 67.7 Gy between 1989 and 2017. The 2-year rates of local, regional, distant, and disease control were 73, 60, 33, and 13%, respectively. The 2-year overall survival rate was 38%; median survival was 1.4 years. The longest disease-free period was 9.5 years after treatment with no evidence of disease. Radiotherapy is an acceptable treatment for these patients, who tend to have poor outcomes and distant metastatic disease. Superior systemic chemotherapy may improve outcomes and decrease the likelihood of distant recurrence.

Keywords:

• Radiation oncology
• neuroendocrine
• clinical outcomes

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Chris Morris for data management assistance and Jessica Kirwan for editorial assistance.

Declaration of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the article.

Data availability statement

The authors agree to share anonymized data upon reasonable request by researchers.