High surgical volume is associated with improved survival in head and neck cancer

• Published in: Oral oncology 2023-03, Vol.138, p.106333-106333, Article 106333
• Main Authors: Rygalski, Chandler J., Huttinger, Zachary M., Zhao, Songzhu, Brock, Guy, VanKoevering, Kyle, Old, Matthew O., Teknos, Theodoros N., Rocco, James W., Puram, Sidharth V., Seim, Nolan B., Swendseid, Brian, Haring, Catherine T., Eskander, Antoine, Kang, Stephen Y.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Head and neck cancer; Head and Neck Neoplasms; Hospital volume; Hospitals; Humans; National cancer database; Proportional Hazards Models; Retrospective Studies; Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck
• ISSN: 1368-8375; 1879-0593
• DOI: 10.1016/j.oraloncology.2023.106333

•A 10% increase in volume percentile was associated with 2.97% lower mortality risk.•90th percentile facilities. Examine the relationship between hospital volume and overall mortality in a surgical cohort of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. A retrospective review of the NCDB was completed for adults with previously untreated HNSCC diagnosed between 2004 and 2016. Mean annual hospital volume was calculated using the number of head and neck cancer cases treated at a given facility divided by the number of years the facility reported to the NCDB. Facilities were separated into three categories based on their volume percentile, informed by inflection points from a natural cubic spline: Hospital Group 1 (50th percentile in annual hospital volume. This may support the regionalization of care to high volume head and neck centers with comprehensive facilities and supportive services to maximize patient outcomes.