Patients
Consecutive patients who underwent tumor resection for OOSCC at our University Hospital from January 2008 to December 2016 were retrospectively selected. Among them, patients who had a cervical contrast-enhanced CT scan available within 3 months before surgery were included. Patients treated with first chemo and/or radiotherapy, with a history of HNSCC, with too small or not delineable lesion, or with exaggerated dental artifacts on the CT examination were excluded.
Patients were informed of the study objectives and could express their opposition to the use of their medical data. The database was constituted in accordance with the reference methodology MR004 of the Commission Nationale de l’Informatique et des Libertés (n°2206749, 13/09/2018) and followed the French authorities’ requirements.
The following data were collected: age, gender, body mass index (BMI), alcohol and tobacco use, precise location of the tumor, HPV status, TNM staging, histological differentiation, resection status.
Every patient underwent close clinical-biological and radiological evaluation during the first 3 years after surgery. Primary and secondary endpoints were OS and EFS, respectively. OS was defined as the time from diagnosis until death from any cause. Patients alive at the end of follow up were censored at that time. EFS was defined as the time from diagnosis until recurrence; metastasis or death from any cause. Patients without recurrence, death or metastasis at the end of follow-up were censored at that time.