IMPORTANCE Quality metrics for patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) exist, but whether compliance with these metrics correlates with improved survival is unknown. OBJECTIVE To examine whether compliance with proposed quality metrics is associated with improved survival in patients with laryngeal SCC treated with surgery with or without adjuvant therapy. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS This retrospective cohort study included patients from a tertiary care academic medical center who had previously untreated laryngeal SCC and underwent surgery with or without adjuvant therapy from January 1, 2003, through December 31, 2012. Data analysis was performed from August 4, 2015, through December 13, 2015. INTERVENTIONS Surgery with or without adjuvant therapy. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Compliance with quality metrics from the American Head and Neck Society (AHNS), National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines, and institutional metrics with face validity covering pretreatment evaluation, treatment, and posttreatment surveillance was evaluated. The association between compliance with the group of metrics and overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival (DSS), and disease-free survival (DFS) was explored using Cox proportional hazards analysis. The association between compliance with individual metrics and survival was similarly determined. RESULTS A total of 243 patients (184 men and 59 women) were included in the study (median age, 62 years; age range, 23–87 years). No association was found between increasing levels of compliance with the AHNS or NCCN metrics and survival. The only AHNS or NCCN metric for which greater compliance correlated with improved survival on multivariable Cox proportional hazards analysis controlling for pT stage, pN stage, extracapsular spread, margin status, and comorbidity was pretreatment multidisciplinary evaluation for patients with stage cT3-4 or cN1-3 disease (OS adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.47; 95% CI, 0.24–0.94; DFS aHR, 0.45; 95% CI, 0.23–0.85). For the institutional metrics, multidisciplinary evaluation for all patients (OS aHR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.29–0.88; DFS aHR, 0.50, 95% CI, 0.32–0.80) and elective neck dissection yield of 18 lymph nodes or more (DFS aHR, 0.36; 95% CI, 0.14–0.99) were associated with improved survival on multivariable Cox proportional hazards analysis. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this cohort of patients with surgically treated laryngeal SCC, multidisciplinary evaluation and elective neck dissection yield of 18 lymph nodes or more are associated with improved survival. Development of better quality metrics is necessary because increased compliance with metrics described by the AHNS and NCCN is not associated with improved survival. Previously described metrics for surgically treated oral cavity cancer are not prognostic for surgically treated laryngeal SCC. Future multi-institutional collaboration will be required to validate these findings, develop better quality metrics, and evaluate whether quality metrics for head ...

ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02926573.

IMPORTANCE Contemporary management of head and neck cancer involves professionals from multiple specializations. Streamlined care that reduces delays yet allows for comprehensive evaluation is needed. OBJECTIVE To evaluate a single-day, single-appointment, multidisciplinary head and neck clinic model for reduction in treatment delay and comprehensiveness of care. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS A retrospective cohort analysis was conducted from June 1, 2015, to July 31, 2016, of outpatients at a single, academic medical center. All eligible outpatients seen in either the multiple-appointment, traditional clinic (n = 73) or the single-day multidisciplinary clinic (MDC) (n = 68) were included. Patients with new squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx, hypopharynx, sinonasal tract, and larynx, along with any mucosal site recurrence were eligible for the study. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Primary outcomes were delays between tertiary clinic referral or first appointment and treatment initiation in the MDC compared with the traditional clinic. Secondary outcomes were complete evaluations prior to treatment, enrollment in trials and registries, and rate of patient leak, defined as initiating therapy and then transferring to another center before completion. Outcome selection and hypothesis generation were performed a priori. RESULTS Patient factors and tumor characteristics were similar between the traditional clinic cohort (19 women and 54 men; mean [SD] age, 64.0 [10.2] years) and the MDC cohort (8 women and 60 men; mean [SD] age, 61.0 [8.9] years). The MDC cohort had significantly fewer instances of delay greater than 30 days from referral to treatment initiation (28 [41%] vs 43 [59%]) and first appointment to treatment initiation (7 [10%] vs 17 [23%]). Actual median days in these categories were significantly different between the 2 clinic types after the patients in the traditional clinic who saw only a surgeon before treatment initiation were excluded (MDC, 28 days vs traditional, 35 days; median difference,-5 days; 95% CI,-11 to-1). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Coordination of the management of head and neck cancer is complex. Treatment is time sensitive, and frequently clinician resources are limited. This MDC model was associated with improved efficiency and completeness of care.

Objective: Transoral surgery (TOS) for oropharyngeal carcinoma (OPC) is steadily becoming more routine. Expected posttreatment swallow function is a critical consideration for preoperative counseling. The objective of this study was to identify predictors of swallow dysfunction following TOS for advanced tumor (T)-stage (T3-T4) OPC.Methods: A retrospective review from 1997 to 2016 at a single institution was performed. Eighty-two patients who underwent primary transoral resection of locally advanced OPCs with at least 1 year of postoperative follow-up were included. The primary outcome measure was swallow function, as measured by the Functional Outcomes Swallowing Scale (FOSS) at 1 year postoperatively. Operative reports were reviewed, and the extent of resection and type of reconstruction were documented. Conjunctive consolidation was then performed to incorporate multiple variables and their impact on swallow function into a clinically meaningful classification system.Results: Fifty-six patients (68%) had acceptable swallowing at 1 year. T4 tumor stage and receipt of adjuvant chemoradiation therapy (CRT) were strongly associated with poor swallowing but did not reach statistical significance. Only base of tongue (BOT) resection ≥50% (odds ratio [OR] 3.19, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.21-8.43) and older age (OR 1.06, 95% CI 1.00-1.12) were significantly associated. Utilizing T-stage, adjuvant CRT, and BOT resection, a conjunctive consolidation was performed to develop a classification system for swallow dysfunction at 1 year.Conclusion: This study provides risk stratification for swallow function at 1 year following primary transoral resection of locally advanced OPCs. BOT resection ≥50%, especially when coupled with T4 tumor stage or adjuvant CRT, was associated with poor long-term swallow outcomes.

There is a lack of reporting effect sizes and confidence intervals in the current biomedical literature. The objective of this article is to present a discussion of the recent paradigm shift encouraging the use of reporting effect sizes and confidence intervals. Although P values help to inform us about whether an effect exists due to chance, effect sizes inform us about the magnitude of the effect (clinical significance), and confidence intervals inform us about the range of plausible estimates for the general population mean (precision). Reporting effect sizes and confidence intervals is a necessary addition to the biomedical literature, and these concepts are reviewed in this article.