title: A comparison of outcomes for early oropharyngeal cancers treated with single-modality surgery versus radiotherapy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We retrospectively compared results of surgery alone (SX) or radiotherapy alone (RT) for early stage tonsil and base of tongue cancers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Outcomes for 386 SX and 362 RT patients from Surveillance, Epidemiology and End RESULTS database were analyzed using propensity covariate adjusted and inverse probability weighting models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  With median follow-up of 71 months, unadjusted overall survival at 5 years was 66.1% for SX versus 50.2% for RT (p < 0.001). Unadjusted cancer-specific survival was 80.9% for SX versus 67.3% for RT (p < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, treatment modality maintained association with overall survival and cancer-specific survival. Inverse probability weighting-adjusted 5-year overall survival was 75.2% for SX versus 67.4% for RT (p = 0.002). Inverse probability weighting-adjusted cancer-specific survival was 86.0% for SX versus 77.4% for RT (p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Explanations for higher survival for SX include comorbidities, superiority of surgery and underascertainment of postoperative radiation in Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiation Oncology, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Vladimir
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Valakh
authors.forename: Curtis
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Miyamoto
authors.forename: Katsiaryna
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mazurenka
authors.forename: Jeffrey C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009959:Oropharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery*; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018426:SEER Program; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014062:Tongue Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000532:radiotherapy* / Q000601:surgery*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: base of tongue cancer; monotherapy; oropharyngeal cancer; single modality; tonsillar cancer