Distant metastases in head and neck epidermoid carcinoma

Abstract

Autopsy findings and case histories of 64 cases of epidermoid carcinoma of the head and neck at the Denver Veterans Administration Hospital between 1967 and 1977 were reviewed. Forty percent of these cases had metastases below the clavicles at autopsy. Incidence of metastasis was related to size of the primary lesion. Correlation with nodal involvement was equivocal. Our data was combined with that of similar studies done by O'Brien in 1970 and Gowen in 1963 and resulted in a combined autopsy series of 247 cases. Overall, 47% had distant metastases at autopsy.

Chemoradionuclide Therapy with186Re-Labeled Liposomal Doxorubicin: Toxicity, Dosimetry, and Therapeutic Response

“…4 Despite improvements in locoregional treatment modalities such as aggressive postsurgery radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy, incidence of local recurrence and distant metastases remains high. [3][4][5] Hence, an effective systemic treatment is required to improve survival in this group.…”

“…In this equation, D is the average radiation absorbed dose in Gy, Ã is cumulative radioactivity in mCi$h calculated as described earlier, and m is the weight of the organ in g. To calculate radiation absorbed dose for tumor, tumor weight was calculated from the average of the measured tumor volume from day 0 to 5, assuming the tumor density is 1 g/ cm 3 . Normal organ weight for heart (0.76 -0.08 g), lungs (1.15 -0.07 g), liver (10.67 -1.42 g), spleen (0.61 -0.09 g), and kidneys (1.06 -0.09 g) was obtained from previous 99m Tcliposomes organ biodistribution studies (n = 12) (unpublished data).…”

“…Despite improvements in locoregional treatment by surgery and/or radiotherapy for stages III and IV (70%), the failure rate for either local recurrence or distant metastases is still high. [3][4][5] Chemotherapy is generally not effective as an adjuvant systemic treatment for the local tumor therapy of solid tumors because of inhomogeneous distribution of the drug in the tumor leading to decreased therapeutic effects of the anticancer drug. 6 Combined treatment modality approaches have been implemented to improve locoregional tumor control, reduce distant metastases, preserve function, and maintain anatomic structure.…”

Metastasis of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

“…Five patients (1.5%) had metastases to infraclavicular lymph nodes (axilla, inguinal and presternal). The clinical detection of metastatic foci occurs in 10% to 30% of cases, whereas autopsy studies yield an incidence of about 50% of cases with metastases below the clavicle (Amer, et al, 1979, Dennington, et al, 1980. Clinical data in recently reported studies indicates an incidence of 4% to 23.8%, whereas autopsy data documents that 12% to 57% of cases had disseminated disease (Dennington, et al, 1980).…”

“…The clinical detection of metastatic foci occurs in 10% to 30% of cases, whereas autopsy studies yield an incidence of about 50% of cases with metastases below the clavicle (Amer, et al, 1979, Dennington, et al, 1980. Clinical data in recently reported studies indicates an incidence of 4% to 23.8%, whereas autopsy data documents that 12% to 57% of cases had disseminated disease (Dennington, et al, 1980). Merino and associates (Merino, et al, 1977) in an analysis of 546 of 5019 untreated patients with squamous carcinoma of the upper respiratory tract who completed curative treatments, found clinically manifested metastases below the clavicle in 10.9% of the cases.…”