Trial reportInternational journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics2015
Long-term results of radiation therapy oncology group 9903: a randomized phase 3 trial to assess the effect of erythropoietin on local-regional control in anemic patients treated with radiation therapy for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.
Trial report in International journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Intravenous iron versus oral iron versus no iron with or without erythropoiesis- stimulating agents (ESA) for cancer patients with anaemia: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Pre-treatment anemia in head and neck cancer: risk factors, subtypes, and survival outcomes.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Article
- Radioresistance or/and radiosensitivity of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: biological angle.Oral and maxillofacial surgery · 2024Review
- A predictive survival model for patients with stage IV oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma treated with chemoradiation.European archives of oto-rhino-laryngology : official journal of the European Federation of Oto-Rhino-Laryngological Societies (EUFOS) : affiliated with the German Society for Oto-Rhino-Laryngology - Head and Neck Surgery · 2024Article
- A radiobiological perspective on radioresistance or/and radiosensitivity of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.Reports of practical oncology and radiotherapy : journal of Greatpoland Cancer Center in Poznan and Polish Society of Radiation Oncology · 2023Review
- Tumor oxygenation and cancer therapy-then and now.The British journal of radiology · 2019Review
- Competing Morbidities In Advanced Head And Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy: A Strong Implication Of A Multidisciplinary Team Approach.Cancer management and research · 2019Review
- Development and Validation of Nomograms Predictive of Overall and Progression-Free Survival in Patients With Oropharyngeal Cancer.Journal of clinical oncology : official journal of the American Society of Clinical Oncology · 2017Article
- Does the mobilization of circulating tumour cells during cancer therapy cause metastasis?Nature reviews. Clinical oncology · 2017Review
- Long-Term Results of Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy for Advanced N2-3 Stage Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma.PloS one · 2015Article
- Impact of anemia in patients with head and neck cancer treated with radiation therapy.Current treatment options in oncology · 2005Review
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Authors and funding
15 authors at 13 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
purposeThis paper reports long-term results of RTOG 9903, to determine whether the addition of erythropoietin (EPO) would improve the outcomes of radiation therapy (RT) in mildly to moderately anemic patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCCa). METHODS AND MATERIALS: The trial included HNSCCa patients treated with definitive RT. Patients with stage III or IV disease received concomitant chemoradiation therapy or accelerated fractionation. Pretreatment hemoglobin levels were required to be between 9.0 and 13.5 g/dL (12.5 g/dL for females). EPO, 40,000 U, was administered weekly starting 7 to 10 days before RT was initiated in the RT + EPO arm.
resultsA total of 141 of 148 enrolled patients were evaluable. The baseline median hemoglobin level was 12.1 g/dL. In the RT + EPO arm, the mean hemoglobin level at 4 weeks increased by 1.66 g/dL, whereas it decreased by 0.24 g/dL in the RT arm. With a median follow-up of 7.95 years (range: 1.66-10.08 years) for surviving patients and 3.33 years for all patients (range: 0.03-10.08 years), the 5-year estimate of local-regional failure was 46.2% versus 39.4% (P=.42), local-regional progression-free survival was 31.5% versus 37.6% (P=.20), and overall survival was 36.9% versus 38.2% (P=.54) for the RT + EPO and RT arms, respectively. Late toxicity was not different between the 2 arms.
conclusionsThis long-term analysis confirmed that despite the ability of EPO to raise hemoglobin levels in anemic patients with HNSCCa, it did not improve outcomes when added to RT. The possibility of a detrimental effect of EPO could not be ruled out.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.