There are conflicting reports about whether radiotherapy or surgery is optimal for early‐stage laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), although both have recently been recommended. Patients with T1‐2N0M0 LSCC in the population‐based SEER database who underwent radiotherapy or surgery were reviewed. Propensity score matching was used to eliminate the baseline variations. After matching, 1913 pairs of patients were included. Overall, patients who received radiotherapy had worse cancer‐specific survival than patients with surgery. After stratification, the survival in patients who received radiotherapy was worse with respect to the following characteristics: ≤60 years of age; T1a glottis cancer; well‐differentiated tumors; and with married status. In other patients, survival outcomes were similar in patients who received radiotherapy and underwent surgery. Our results indicate that radiotherapy is not preferable in early‐stage LSCC patients who are ≤60 years of age, have T1a glottis cancer or well‐differentiated tumors, or are married. In other patients, both radiotherapy and surgery are comparable. However, our results cannot be a reference before controlled, prospective trials are performed.

Purpose: This study assessed the prognosis of young patients with nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC), both domestic and foreign, using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER) database, a population-based database, and departmental records. Methods: Patients diagnosed with NPC from 2004 to 2016 in the SEER database were reviewed. Young patients aged ≤30 years when diagnosed, were compared with older patients. The medical records of patients with NPC aged ≤30 years in our own department were also reviewed. The prognostic effects of different variables, including age, sex, race, tumor stage, pathology, radiation, and chemotherapy were assessed by Kaplan–Meier and Cox analyses. Results: A total of 212 foreign and 257 domestic patients, with mean ages of 21.5 and 22.9 years and median ages of 22 and 24 years, respectively, were included. In SEER database, younger NPC patients had a more advanced tumor stage (74.5% stage III/IV vs. 63.1% in older patients) and a worse pathological differentiation, but a better prognosis (P < 0.0001). Interestingly, the younger the patient, the better the prognosis. Younger patients received a higher proportion of chemotherapy. M stage, overall stage and radiation were the primary prognostic factors. Similar and more comprehensive results were found in our center. Patients with distant metastases, at a primary visit, had worse diagnoses. Intensity-modulated radiotherapy and three-dimensional conventional radiotherapy had minimal effects on survival in young patients in our center. Most patients from our department received chemotherapy, and different induction chemotherapy regimens resulted in similar survival prognoses. Conclusions: Young patients with NPC usually present at an advanced stage, but have a better overall prognosis. How to treat patients with metastasis is critical for improving prognoses in young NPC patients.

There is a scarcity of data about the prognostic value of orbital invasion in esthesioneuroblastoma (ENB), as well as about its management strategies. Indications for the preservation of orbital contents remain controversial, and the evaluation of orbital invasion has been ill defined. This retrospective analysis contained 60 ENB patients with orbital invasion who underwent radiotherapy with or without surgery over the past 14 years. Orbital invasion was classified into three grades. There were 52 patients at stage C and 8 at stage D, according to Foote classifications. Grade I, grade II and grade III orbital invasion was detected in 12, 23, and 25 patients, respectively. The median follow-up was 57 months (IQR 32–95 months). Fourteen patients received radical radiotherapy, with a 5-year overall survival (OS) of 63.5%; 46 received surgery plus radiation, with a 5-year OS of 70.7%; and the difference was not statistically significant (p = 0.847). Orbital preservation was feasible in 100% of cases, including 18 cases that extended to extraocular muscles or the eye globe. Five-year locoregional relapse-free survival was 100% in patients with prophylactic elective neck irradiation (PENI) and 58.1% in patients without PENI (p = 0.004). Univariate analysis showed that grade II/III orbital invasion was associated with poorer OS and progression-free survival. Neck metastasis (with a Foote stage of D) was independently associated with shorter OS and distant metastasis–free survival in multivariate analysis. Our data suggested that primary radiotherapy achieved comparable survival to surgery plus radiotherapy in advanced ENB. Invasion of either the extraocular muscles or the eye globe is not a contraindication for eye-sparing surgery. Orbital invasion in grade II/III was significantly associated with adverse survival outcomes. Prophylactic radiotherapy to the neck with N0 significantly reduces the risk of regional recurrence.

Background: Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) in young patients was reported to be more aggressive and associated with poorer survival than in older patients. However, very few studies contained sufficient cases to permit meaningful statistical analysis. It is still unknown whether less aggressive method like radical radiotherapy (RT) is comparable to total laryngectomy (TL) in survival rate among young patients. Methods: This study extracted patient data from the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results database from 2004 to 2015. The findings for 304 patients (1.2%) below the age of 40 were compared with those for 24,827 patients (98.8%) aged 40 or older. Results: The younger cohorts contained a higher proportion of female patients (33.6% vs. 19.1%, respectively), had more cases of glottic involvement (64.5% vs. 53.1%), and were less likely to have distant metastasis (0.7% vs.3.2%). A total of 5-year overall survival and cancer-specific survival rates (CSS) in the younger patients were 86.3% and 88.8%, respectively, significantly better than for older patients (53.8% and 67.6%). Significant differences were still observed when stratified for tumor stage (stage I–IV). The negative independent prognostic factors in younger patients were advanced tumor stage, degree of nodal involvement, and status of distant metastasis. Treatment with surgery and/or RT all produced excellent outcomes in stage I–IV diseases, and radical RT resulted in survival rates equal to those for TL in locally advanced LSCC among young patients (5-year CSS: 90% vs. 91.5%, p = 0.99). Conclusion: LSCC is less aggressive and has significantly better survival in younger patients. For younger patients, advanced nodal involvement is the most important independent prognostic factor, and larynx preservation is comparable to TL in survival rate.

• Irradiation-induced USP7 leads to radioresistance in p53-mutated LSCC cells. • However, USP7 leads to radio-sensitivity in p53-wild type cells. • Targeting USP7 might improve radiotherapy's effects in LSCC and reduce side effects.

Background Both radiotherapy and surgery are now recommended for early-stage glottic laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), and both have their own advantages in patients with different characteristics. For each patient, it is hard to determine whether radiotherapy or surgery is more appropriate. Methods Patients with T1-2N0M0 glottic LSCC who received radiotherapy or surgery in the 2004-2016 SEER database were reviewed, then randomly divided into training and validation cohorts. Propensity score matching was used to eliminate the baseline variations, and competing risk analyses helped to exclude the effects of other causes of death. Based on univariate and multivariate analyses, we built two nomograms to visually predict the survival of each patient with different characteristics who received radiotherapy or surgery, then validated the accuracy in both training and validation cohorts. Using nomogramEx, we quantified the algorithms of the nomograms and put the nomograms on the websites. Results A total of 6538 patients in the SEER database were included. We found that therapy (p=0.004), T stage (p<0.001), age (p<0.001), race(p<0.044), grade (p=0.001), and marital status (p<0.001) were independent prognostic factors. Two nomograms were built to calculate the survival for each patient who received radiotherapy (C-index = 0.668±0.050 in the training cohort and 0.578±0.028 in the validation cohort) or underwent surgery (C-index = 0.772±0.045 in the training cohort and 0.658±0.090 in the validation cohort). Calibration plots showed the accuracy of the nomograms. Using the nomograms, we found that 3872 patients (59.22%) had no difference between the two therapies, 706 patients (10.80%) who received radiotherapy had better survival outcomes, and 1960 patients (29.98%) who underwent surgery had better survival outcome. Conclusion Nomograms were used to comprehensively calculate independent factors to determine which treatment (radiotherapy or surgery) is better for each patient. A website was used to offer guidance regarding surgery or radiation for patients and physicians.