Lucy Hynds Karnell

BACKGROUND: Survival has decreased among patients with laryngeal cancer during the past 2 decades in the United States. During this same period, there has been an increase in the nonsurgical treatment of laryngeal cancer.

OBJECTIVE: The objectives of this study were to identify trends in the demographics, management, and outcome of laryngeal cancer in the United States and to analyze factors contributing to the decreased survival.

STUDY DESIGN: The authors conducted a retrospective, ...

PURPOSE: To compare health-related quality-of-life (HRQOL) outcomes of patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma treated using intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) vs. conventional radiotherapy (CRT).

PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma were extracted from the database of an ongoing longitudinal Outcome Assessment Project. Eligible criteria included (1) treated with definitive radiation, and (2) provided 12-month posttreatment HRQOL ...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Recurrent respiratory papillomatosis (RRP) is a benign disease characterized by recurrent lesions in the airway. The prevalence and degree of dysplasia that is present in the natural course of RRP is not well established. Adjuvant therapies, such as cidofovir, have been tried with the goal of decreasing the interval between repeat surgical treatments, the mainstay of therapy. Although, the off-label use of cidofovir to treat RRP has been common, there have been ...

This study retrospectively reviewed 183 cases of adenoid cystic carcinoma treated over 40 years. The local recurrence free survival rate was 68.2 per cent at five years and 40.8 per cent at 10 years. At 10 years, local recurrence free survival was significantly worse following radiotherapy alone (0 per cent), compared with surgery alone (41.8 per cent, p = 0.004) or combined with post-operative radiotherapy (43.5 per cent, p = 0.001). Neither tumour stage three or four, perineural ...

BACKGROUND: This study reviews the case-mix characteristics, management, and outcomes of melanoma cases occuring in the U.S. within the last decade.

METHODS: Analyses of the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) were performed on cases diagnosed between 1985 through 1994. A total of 84,836 cases comprised of cutaneous and noncutaneous melanomas were evaluated.

RESULTS: The percentages of melanomas that were cutaneous, ocular, mucosal, and unknown primaries were 91.2%, 5.2%, 1.3%, and 2.2%, ...

OBJECTIVE: To compare the long-term, health-related quality-of-life outcomes in patients with advanced head and neck cancer (HNC) treated with surgery and postoperative radiation therapy (SRT) or concurrent chemotherapy and radiation therapy (CRT).

DESIGN: Matched-pair study comparing patients with advanced HNC treated with SRT or CRT at least 12 months after treatment. Patients completed 2 validated surveys addressing HNC-specific outcomes and depressive symptoms and provided ...

PURPOSE: To test the hypothesis that radiation dose to key sites in the upper aerodigestive tract is associated with long-term functional outcome after (chemo)radiotherapy for head-and-neck cancers.

METHODS AND MATERIALS: This study examined the outcome for 27 patients treated with intensity-modulated radiotherapy for definitive management of their head-and-neck cancer who were disease free for at least 1 year after treatment. Head-and-neck cancer-specific quality of life (QoL) was ...

BACKGROUND: The National Cancer Data Base (NCDB), a large sample of cancer cases accrued from hospital-based cancer registries, is sponsored by the Commission on Cancer of the American College of Surgeons and the American Cancer Society. The NCDB permits a detailed analysis of case-mix, treatment, and outcome variables.

OBJECTIVE: To provide an overview of the contemporary status of the subset of patients with head and neck cancer in the United States.

METHODS: The NCDB, which obtains ...

BACKGROUND: The natural history of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is changing, although the reasons (potential changes in the disease's biology or in patterns in patient characteristics, treatment, or referral) are unclear.

METHODS: This report uses National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) data, which reflect a hospital-based patient population from a broad spectrum of hospitals in the United States. Age, gender, race/ethnicity, income, treatment, overall survival, and relative survival were ...

BACKGROUND: Verrucous carcinoma is distinguished by controversy regarding appropriate diagnosis and treatment. This study provides a contemporary survey of demographics, patterns of care, and outcome for this disease in the United States.

METHODS: The National Cancer Data Base had 2350 cases of verrucous carcinoma of the head and neck diagnosed between 1985 and 1996. Statistical procedures included chi-square analyses, Student t tests, and relative survival.

RESULTS: Tumors originated ...

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that no significant difference exists in the speech outcomes between patients with severe velopharyngeal incompetence (VPI) who receive a pharyngeal flap and patients with less severe VPI who receive a Z-plasty for management of VPI.

DESIGN: This retrospective study from 1993 to 2002 included a review of pre- and postoperative perceptual speech and resonance assessments of patients with marginal VPI who received a Furlow ...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy and imaging are commonly used in the preoperative assessment of salivary gland mass lesions. The goal of this retrospective study was to clarify the role of FNA and imaging in the workup of salivary gland masses.

STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study.

METHODS: A computer search identified patients with an FNA of a salivary gland lesion with subsequent excision during a 10-year study period. Chart review of study patients was ...

BACKGROUND: Malignant paragangliomas of the head and neck are rare, with previous reports limited to nine or fewer patients. The current review included 59 cases extracted from the National Cancer Data Base that were diagnosed between 1985-1996.

METHODS: The primary criterion for inclusion in the current study was verified metastatic spread from a paraganglioma of the head and neck. Patterns of presentation and treatment as well as clinically relevant associations were demonstrated in ...

OBJECTIVE: To examine health-related quality of life (HRQOL) reported by 5-year head and neck cancer survivors and factors that predicted these long-term scores.

DESIGN: Prospective, observational outcomes study.

SETTING: Tertiary care institution.

PATIENTS: A total of 337 patients diagnosed as having head and neck carcinoma between January 1995 and December 2004, who enrolled in the Outcomes Assessment Project and survived at least 5 years.

INTERVENTIONS: While participating in the ...

OBJECTIVES: We hypothesized that the endoscopic approach to pituitary surgery improves rhinology-specific quality of life and has satisfactory tumor outcomes compared with the open approach.

METHODS: Cases of pituitary surgery from the Department of Neurosurgery database included an inception cohort of all patients who had endoscopic procedures and consecutive patients who had open procedures between January 1998 and February 2008. The Sino-Nasal Outcome Test-22 was mailed.

RESULTS: ...