Prognostic factors in salvage surgery for recurrent oral and oropharyngeal cancer

BACKGROUND: Therapeutic decisions in recurrent oral and oropharyngeal squamous carcinoma (SCC) remain controversial. METHODS: Two hundred forty-six consecutive patients who underwent salvage surgery for recurrent squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the oral cavity and oropharynx were studied. The tumor sites were lip, 33 cases; oral cavity, 143; oropharynx, 70. The previous treatment was surgery in 73 patients, radiotherapy in 96, combined surgery and radiotherapy in 76, and chemotherapy in one. The clinical stage of recurrence was I/II in 51 cases and III/IV in 195 cases. The disease-free interval (DFI) was less than 1 year in 156 cases and greater than 1 year in 90 cases. RESULTS: The rate of recurrence was 54.9%, and the overall 5-year actuarial survival rate was 32.3%. The significant prognostic factors in multivariate analysis were restage (p = .049) and DFI (p = .045). CONCLUSION: Patients with recurrent oral and oropharyngeal SCC at initial clinical stages (rCS I and II) and with a DFI greater than 1 year had a favorable prognosis.