Using TNM staging to predict survival in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of head & neck.

Abstract

There is a need for a classification system for prognosis based on the TNM system for patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck such that patient groupings are homogeneous within and heterogeneous between. Six hundred fifty-five consecutive patients with invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck followed prospectively are split into a training set and a test set. Using the training set, the Cox Proportional Hazards Model and the outcome of dead with disease, we created homogeneous prognostic levels (PLs) based on RR. Using the test set, we compare our model to others in the literature. Using the training set, we identified five PLs, and using the test set, we demonstrated that our model is superior to others for both within-group homogeneity and between-group heterogeneity. A simple classification system can be used to group patients for survival and is valid for future study in prognostication.