A 5‑year update of patients with HPV positive versus negative oropharyngeal cancer after radiochemotherapy in Austria.

BACKGROUND: After publishing promising results for the treatment of patients with human papilloma virus (HPV) positive oropharyngeal cancer with radiochemotherapy regarding 2‑year survival, we present an update of the disease-specific and disease-free survival after 5 years.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 29 patients of which 18 were HPV negative and 11 HPV positive with squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx received radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy (cisplatin) or immunotherapy (cetuximab) between 2007 and 2009. At time of the present analysis, six patients are still alive including four with HPV positive and two with HPV negative oropharyngeal carcinoma, while 15 out of 16 patients with HPV negative tumors died and 1 died of another cause with evidence of disease.

RESULTS: Since the 2‑year disease-specific survival of patients with HPV positive cancer of the oropharynx was published with 100% versus 30.4% in HPV negative tumors, we now present the 5‑year disease-specific survival after treatment, which was 85.7% in HPV positive versus 11.1% in HPV negative patients.

CONCLUSION: We present the results of patients receiving radiochemo(immuno)therapy for oropharyngeal cancer regarding the HPV status, which is still promising.