OUTCOME OF HEAD AND NECK CANCER PATIENTS MANAGED WITH CHEMORADIATION AT THE RADIOTHERAPY DEPARTMENT NATIONAL HOSPITAL, ABUJA (A FIVE-YEAR RETROSPECTIVE STUDY)

Background: The term ‘Head and Neck Cancer’ usually refers to squamous cell carcinomas that affect the head and neck regions of the body. However, other histologies are also found in these regions.

Objective: This study assessed the outcome of head and neck cancer patients managed with chemoradiation.

Methods: A data extraction form was used to obtain sociodemographic and clinical variables from treatment records and case notes of patients with head and neck cancer treated from January 2017 to December 2022 at the radiotherapy department, National Hospital, Abuja. The outcome of chemo-radiation was analysed.

Results: A total of 384 cases with a mean age of 43.5 years, with 248 males (64.6%) and 136 females (35.4%). Nasopharyngeal cancer (NPC) was the commonest with 102 (26.6%) cases. At five years of follow-up, 109 (28.4%) patients died of the disease, 152 (39.6%) patients were alive with the disease, 54 (14.1%) were disease-free, 69 (17.9%) were lost to follow-up, probably on account of either complication/side effects of treatment, financial constraint, disease progression, or unreported deaths.

Conclusion: Despite the late presentation, this study showed that there was improved survival in patients with head and neck cancer who had chemoradiation.