The research, led by cancer doctors and scientists from the Northern Head and Neck Alliance (NHNA), is the only study to exclusively explore survival times in laryngeal cancer patients managed without radical treatment. It was funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR).
Larynx cancer is among the deadliest of head and neck cancers. In the UK, it affects 2,400 patients each year, disproportionately affecting those from socioeconomically disadvantaged backgrounds.
Approximately half of all larynx cancer patients are diagnosed at an advanced stage. Around 20% of these patients have incurable disease or are not strong enough for aggressive treatment and so receive palliative care from the outset.
Patients in this situation want to understand how long they have if they don’t receive treatment so they can get their affairs in order and make empowered decisions for their final stages of life.
Yet, until now, accurate survival data for laryngeal cancer patients receiving non-curative management has been lacking, leaving clinicians to rely on anecdotal evidence.
Cancer experts from the Northern Head and Neck Alliance conducted this study to bridge the gap in evidence and support informed decision-making conversations between clinicians and patients.
Researchers looked at six years’ worth of data – from January 2015 to December 2021 – from nearly 400 patients treated with palliative intent in five major head and neck specialist centres in the North of England and Scotland.
From this, they have worked out a range of larynx cancer survival times depending on the stage of the disease and how severe it is.
The research, which has been published in Clinical Otolaryngology, centred on data from 373 patients, of which the average age was 72 and 73% were male. It found that:
- 17% had early-stage cancer, and 83% had late-stage disease.
- The average survival time was 9.1 months.
- For those where the cancer had spread to another part of the body, it reduced to 6.9 months, while those without had 9.4 months.
- Early-stage patients had an average survival time of 13.3 months, compared to 8.2 months for advanced disease.
- Approximately 75% of laryngeal cancer patients managed non-curatively had died by 12 months.
The NHNA is a large group of head and neck cancer experts from across the North of England and Scotland. Supported by the Northern Health Science Alliance (NHSA), the coalition brings together nine head and neck cancer centres that are all committed to collaborative research efforts.
For this study, retrospective data were compiled for patients with laryngeal squamous cell cancer from five large tertiary head and neck centres: Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust; Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust; and Greater Glasgow & Clyde Hospitals.
Mr James Moor, Consultant in ENT Head & Neck Surgery at the Trust said: “This paper delivers useful data for clinicians managing some of our society’s most vulnerable patients. There is a lot of focus on technological developments in cancer care at the moment with robotics, ultra-precise lasers, monoclonal antibodies, etc., but what we have here is really useful data that is directly relatable to our patients in Leeds that will be able to give them and their families/carers guidance at a time that the future for them is a complete unknown.
“The paper is a fantastic collaborative achievement from centres across the North of the UK that I am very proud to be a part of”.