Newsletter
PITTSBURGH, USA: A recently published study has demonstrated that offering head and neck cancer screening along with computed tomography screening for lung cancer could improve early detection and diagnosis of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) in high-risk patients. According to the researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute who conducted the study, patients most at risk of lung cancer are also most at risk of head and neck cancer.
"When caught early the five-year survival rate for head and neck cancer patients is over 83 percent," said senior author Dr. Brenda Diergaarde, assistant professor of epidemiology. However, no effective screening strategy has been identified to date.
Thus, they analyzed the records of 3,587 at-risk participants to evaluate whether it would be useful to screen individuals targeted for lung cancer screening for HNSCC too. The participants were originally enrolled in the Pittsburgh Lung Screening Study, a cohort study of current and former smokers aged 50 and over.
In the general U.S. population, fewer than 43 per 100,000 people would be expected to develop head and neck cancer per year. Among the participants in the current study, however, 71.4 cases per 100,000 people annually were identified. Most cases were observed in men and in those who had started smoking at a younger age, smoked more per day, and had more pack years than the rest of the at-risk participants.
In accordance with studies on the effectiveness of lung cancer screening, the researchers hypothesized that screening for HNSCC could also reduce mortality in this patient group.
"Head and neck cancer is relatively rare, and screening the general population would be impractical," said co-author Dr. David O. Wilson, associate director of University of Pittsburgh Medical Center's Lung Cancer Center, which collaborated with the Pittsburgh University. "However, the patients at risk for lung cancer whom we would refer for the newly recommended annual screening are the same patients that our study shows also likely would benefit from regular head and neck cancer screenings. If such screening reduces mortality in these at-risk patients, that would be a convenient way to increase early detection and save lives."
The study, titled "Incidence of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Among Subjects at High Risk of Lung Cancer: Results From the Pittsburgh Lung Screening Study," was published online on Jan. 5 in the Cancer journal ahead of print.
