First Clinical Report on Comparative Treatment and Survival Outcomes in Second Cancers after Primary Head and Neck Cancer: A Population-Based Study

INTRODUCTION: To compare patients’ survival of second primary malignancy (SPM) after head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). METHODS: The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database was utilized (1973-2011). The Kaplan-Meier method with log-rank test was used to compare the overall survival (OS) and cause-specific survival (CSS) among treatment methods from the time of diagnosis of SPMs. Cox proportional regression models were used to adjust the impact for risk factors on CSS. RESULTS: A total of 3,038 patients were identified (5-yr OS 22.6% (21.0-24.3%)). For head and neck (HN) SPMs, the patients who received ‘conservative surgery with radiation’ had the best 5-yr OS (65.2% (48.9-86.9%)); and the ‘conservative surgery’ group had the best 5-yr CSS (89.9% (85.6-94.5%)). For lung SPMs, the ‘radical surgery’ group showed the best survival (2-yr OS 60.8% (56.0-66.1%), 2-yr CSS 70.6% (65.8-75.8%), respectively). Esophagus SPMs had poor prognosis, with no difference among the treatment groups. In lung SPMs, younger age (p<0.001) and black race (p<0.05) were most favorable CSS predictors. CONCLUSIONS: The prognosis of SPMs after HNSCC is worse compared with corresponding primary tumor. Conservative surgery with or without radiation showed the most favorable outcomes in HN SPMs.​