Re-Irradiation in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck

Abstract Background Re-irradiation as a therapeutic option for locoregional recurrence in patients with recurrent, persistent tumour or second primary malignant neoplasm has great advantages for locally advanced unresectable tumours. Methods We intended to characterise the patient pool that underwent re-irradiation and to perform a comparative analysis between previously known data related to prognostic factors with an impact on 2 years OS of these patients, and evaluate the therapeutic impact of re-irradiation in patients with recurrent, persistent tumour or second primary malignant neoplasm in the head and neck region, treated at the Radiotherapy Department in Portuguese Institute of Oncology in Coimbra (IPOC), from the year 2016 to 2020. Results A total of 39 patients were included in this study. All patients were submitted to both primary radiotherapy and re-irradiation with a median time interval between treatment of 20 months (minimum: 8 – maximum: 190). Only the time between irradiations was associated with a decrease in the risk of mortality (HR=0.828; CI 95% 0.731–0.939; p=.03). There were no significant differences in terms of toxicity severity between irradiations. Conclusion Re-irradiation is an important therapeutic alternative in the treatment of patients with malignant tumours in the head and neck region.