Abstract 682P
Background
LA HNSCC (stage III-IVb) is a potentially curable disease. However, many patients experience recurrence and metastasis, resulting in poorer prognoses. The multimodal approach to treating LA HNSCC makes the evaluation of treatment regimens difficult. This study aimed to describe the clinical characteristics and real-world treatment patterns of LA HNSCC patients in England.
Methods
In this retrospective cohort study, we used data from the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service databases (Cancer Registry, Systemic Anti-Cancer Therapy, Hospital Episode Statistics, National Radiotherapy Dataset). Adults with a first record of primary LA HNSCC between 01/01/2015 and 31/12/2018 were indexed. We investigated standard treatment patterns and clinical characteristics during a maximum of 5-years follow-up period extending to December 2020.
Results
A total of 12,790 patients met the inclusion criteria, 73.0% male. The mean age at diagnosis was 62.4 years (SD 11.5). 75.9% of patients were diagnosed with stage 4 HNSCC at index (65.4% stage 4a) and 40.3% were deemed resectable. The mean time from index to primary surgery was 57.2 days (SD 139.2). 47.0% were treated with surgery and/or radiotherapy alone. Of the 6665 patients who received chemotherapy as part of their combination treatment (which may have included surgery and/or radiotherapy +/- concurrent chemotherapy), 3.1% (204/6665) received neoadjuvant (induction) chemotherapy, 31.3% (2087/6665) received chemotherapy after surgery and 65.6% (4374/6665) received chemotherapy in the absence of surgery. The majority of chemotherapy regimens used were platinum-based.
Conclusions
This is one of the first real world studies using the UK NCRAS dataset to characterise the UK LA HNSCC population and their treatment patterns. The majority of patients were diagnosed at an advanced stage, highlighting the need for earlier identification and detection of these patients to improve their clinical outcomes.
Clinical trial identification
Editorial acknowledgement
Legal entity responsible for the study
Merck Sharp and Dohme (UK) Limited.
Funding
Merck Sharp and Dohme (UK) Limited.
Disclosure
A. Kong: Financial Interests, Personal and Institutional, Invited Speaker, Anthony Kong has received fees for consulting, advisory roles, speaker roles and/or research funding from: PUMA BioTechnology, AstraZeneca, MSD, Merck, BMS, Avvinity Therapeutics: MSD. G. Chiu, S.R. Shah, J. Bolodeoku: Financial Interests, Institutional, Full or part-time Employment: MSD. C.S. Casey, O. Massey, A. Patel: Financial Interests, Institutional, Other, employee of Adelphi Real World; the company received funding from Merck Sharp & Dohme (UK) Limited to conduct the study: ARW. C.M. Black: Financial Interests, Institutional, Full or part-time Employment: MSD.