iENE real world study

Extranodal extensions on radiology (iENE) has been reported by single-centre studies to carry prognostic importance in HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer and may be more prognostic than ENE detected on pathology. However, to be used reliably in routine clinical practice for treatment selection it should demonstrate consistent and high sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value and prognostic power in a multicentre real-world setting. We use data from one of the largest multinational, multicentre, secondary care hospital real-world setting studies reported in the literature, the Head and Neck Cancer International Group’s Evaluating novel head and neck cancer Paradigms International Collaboration on Extranodal Extension (HNCIG EPIC-ENE). We examine the prognostic value of iENE in terms of overall and disease-free survival and estimate the prognostic power, sensitivity, specificity and interobserver correlation of iENE, as reported by the local radiologist compared to pENE diagnosed by the local pathologist (gold standard).

Inclusion criteria

Retrospective and prospective cohorts with a minimum of 50 cases;

Patients

aged 18 years or over;

diagnosed with a primary squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx between 1/1/1999 and 12/31/2020;

treated with curative intent by surgery, radiotherapy, chemoradiotherapy or a combination of these;

CT and/or MRI scans of the neck performed within 12 weeks before the start of treatment;

Available data on clinical outcomes and follow-up

Exclusion criteria

Patients with distant metastasis or recurrent disease at diagnosis