Evaluation of early oral cavity cancer treatment quality at a single institution

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the adherence to oral cavity quality guidelines endorsed by the American Head and Neck Society (AHNS) at a large tertiary care hospital. Methods This retrospective study identified patients treated for early‐stage oral tongue squamous cell carcinoma at a tertiary care hospital from 1992 to 2013. Patient charts were reviewed for 26 process quality measures and four key indicator process quality measures as endorsed by the AHNS. Patients were then grouped by diagnosis date either before (historical group, 1992–2007) or after (current treatment group, 2008–2013) the published process quality measures from the AHNS. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the rates of adherence for each process quality measure within the 2 groups. Results Of the 57 patients identified, 29 were female (51%). The mean age was 62.3 years. A majority of the oral cavity cancers were stage I (59.6%), followed by stage II (35.1%) and stage III (5.3%). Compliance with the process quality measures was in the acceptable range in both cohorts. However, several areas demonstrated lower adherence in both cohorts. Statistically significant improvements were noted between the two cohorts, which showed a measurable improvement in adherence to process quality measures in several key areas over time. Conclusion Using the process quality measures proposed by the AHNS, adherence to the process quality measures for early‐stage oral cavity cancer care at a tertiary care center was successfully evaluated. In general, good compliance with the proposed process quality measures was found and several areas for improvement were identified. Level of Evidence 2c Laryngoscope, 129:1816–1821, 2019

Characteristics and prognosis of primary treatment-naïve oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma in Norway, a descriptive retrospective study

“…This is according to current recommendations [35], and was a positive finding, as these patients were treated nine to 14 years ago when MDT meetings were less established than today. Cancer in the oral cavity is normally managed by surgical removal of the primary tumor, sometimes combined with neck dissection and/or RT, while chemotherapy is seldom used [28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. The same standard of treatment was also found in our cohort.…”

“…Primary surgery is the preferred treatment for oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) in most institutions when the tumor is regarded resectable, with or without reconstruction and neck dissection. Postoperative adjuvant radiation therapy (RT) is often necessary, whereas chemotherapy is seldom used, except sometimes for advanced stages [28][29][30][31][32][33][34]. The treatment should be decided by a multidisciplinary team (MDT) [35].…”