Table 3.
Management characteristics for the three patient groups
| Type of Surgery | ||||
| Transoral Laser | 28 (66.7%) | 6 (26.1%) | 21 (65.6%) | <0.0001 |
| Transoral Bovie | 9 (21.4%) | 1 (4.3%) | 10 (31.3%) | |
| Other* | 5 (11.9%) | 16 (69.6%) | 1 (3.1%) | |
| Margins | ||||
| Positive | 4 (10.0%) | 3 (13.6%) | 4 (13.8%) | 0.85 |
| Negative or < 5 mm | 36 (90.0%) | 19 (86.4%) | 25 (86.2%) | |
| Chemotherapy | ||||
| Yes | 12 (28.6%) | 14 (56.0%) | 20 (62.5%) | 0.0050 |
| No | 30 (71.4%) | 9 (44.0%) | 12 (37.5%) | |
| Time from Surgery to Completion of RT (days) | ||||
| Median (range) | 91 (74 – 135) | 107 (85 – 140) | 92 (81 – 144) | 0.0008 |
| Duration of feeding tube (mo) | ||||
| Median (range) | N/A | 7.27 (3.91 – 40.53) | 5.1 (1.68 – 22.96) | 0.069 |
| Was feeding tube permanent? | ||||
| Yes | N/A | 12 (52.2%) | 5 (16.1%) | 0.0075 |
| No | N/A | 11 (47.8%) | 26 (83.9%) | |
| Cause of Death | ||||
| Locoregional Disease | 0 (0%) | 2 (15.4%) | 0 (0%) | 0.36 |
| Distant Metastatic Disease | 3 (60%) | 1 (7.7%) | 2 (33.3%) | |
| Second Primary | 1 (20%) | 5 (38.5%) | 3 (50%) | |
| All Other Causes | 1 (20%) | 5 (38.5%) | 1 (16.7%) |
Abbreviations: TLM transoral laser microsurgery.
*One of the following: open mandibulotomy; open pharyngotomy; open pharyngotomy and transoral CO2 laser; open pharyngotomy and transoral bovie; open mandibulotomy and transoral CO2 laser; open pharyngotomy; and transoral ‘cold steel’.
Bold p-values indicate statistical significane at p < 0.05.