Daily Time of Radiation Treatment Is Associated with Subsequent Oral Mucositis Severity during Radiotherapy in Head and Neck Cancer Patients

• Published in: Cancer epidemiology, biomarkers & prevention biomarkers & prevention, 2020-05, Vol.29 (5), p.949-955
• Main Authors: Gu, Fangyi, Farrugia, Mark K, Duncan, William D, Feng, Yingdong, Hutson, Alan D, Schlecht, Nicolas F, Repasky, Elizabeth A, Antoch, Marina P, Miller, Austin, Platek, Alexis, Platek, Mary E, Iovoli, Austin J, Singh, Anurag K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1055-9965; 1538-7755
• DOI: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-19-0961

Limited treatment options are available for oral mucositis, a common, debilitating complication of cancer therapy. We examined the association between daily delivery time of radiotherapy and the severity of oral mucositis in patients with head and neck cancer. We used electronic medical records of 190 patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma who completed radiotherapy, with or without concurrent chemotherapy, at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center (Buffalo, NY) between 2015 and 2017. Throughout a 7-week treatment course, patient mouth and throat soreness (MTS) was self-reported weekly using a validated oral mucositis questionnaire, with responses 0 (no) to 4 (extreme). Average treatment times from day 1 until the day before each mucositis survey were categorized into seven groups. Multivariable-adjusted marginal average scores (LSmeans) were estimated for the repeated- and maximum-MTS, using a linear-mixed model and generalized-linear model, respectively. Radiation treatment time was significantly associated with oral mucositis severity using both repeated-MTS ( = 1,156; = 0.02) and maximum-MTS ( = 190; = 0.04), with consistent patterns. The severity was lowest for patients treated during 8:30 to