title: Role of irradiation in combined treatment of head and neck paragangliomas at the Centre of Oncology in Krakow between 1970-2005.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Aim of the study is to evaluate the results of postoperative radiotherapy of paragangliomas, prognostic factors and causes of treatment failure.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-four patients (39 females and 5 males) aged 20 to 74 years were treated for paraganglioma between 1970 and 2010 at the Centre of Oncology in Kraków. Patient survival probability was estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method. Log-rank tests and Cox proportional hazard model were used in univariate and multivariate analysis, respectively.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The most common locations of paragangliomas were the following: the ear, carotid body and internal jugular vein bulb. Forty (91%) out of them were benign and 4 - malignant. All patients underwent surgery followed by adjuvant radiotherapy. The delivered dose ranged from 50 to 72 Gy, the mean dose was 60 Gy. Five-year overall survival was 84%. Five-year relapse-free survival was 84%, either. The multivariate analysis has shown that the dose in an independent prognostic factor for the overall survival. The univariate analysis has shown significantly higher 5-year overall survival in patients who received a dose of 60 Gy or higher - 92% vs. 70% in patients who received a dose lower than 60 Gy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Postoperative radiotherapy with doses higher than 60 Gy in patients with paragangliomas is associated with longer overall survival.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Maria Skłodowska-Curie Institute - Centre of Oncology, Krakow Branch, Poland.
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pęcak
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Maria Skłodowska-Curie Institute - Centre of Oncology, Krakow Branch, Poland.
authors.forename: Elżbieta
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Pluta
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Maria Skłodowska-Curie Institute - Centre of Oncology, Krakow Branch, Poland.
authors.forename: Marcin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hetnał
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Maria Skłodowska-Curie Institute - Centre of Oncology, Krakow Branch, Poland.
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wróbel-Radecka
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Maria Skłodowska-Curie Institute - Centre of Oncology, Krakow Branch, Poland.
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Szadurska
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Maria Skłodowska-Curie Institute - Centre of Oncology, Krakow Branch, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brandys
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Maria Skłodowska-Curie Institute - Centre of Oncology, Krakow Branch, Poland.
authors.forename: Andrzej
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kukiełka
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Maria Skłodowska-Curie Institute - Centre of Oncology, Krakow Branch, Poland.
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Dąbrowski
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Maria Skłodowska-Curie Institute - Centre of Oncology, Krakow Branch, Poland.
authors.forename: Tomasz
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Walasek
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiotherapy, Maria Skłodowska-Curie Institute - Centre of Oncology, Krakow Branch, Poland.
authors.forename: Jan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Skołyszewski
keywords: chemodectoma; head and neck tumours; paragangliomas; radiotherapy