ArticleCureus2024
Impact of Diagnostic and Treatment Delays on Survival and Treatment-Related Toxicities in Portuguese Patients With Head and Neck Cancer.
Article in Cureus, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 2 papers.
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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.
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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed, 3 citations in OpenAlex.
- Polymorphisms ADH1B rs1229984 and NAA25 rs4767364 correlate with head and neck cancer risk in Southern Punjab, Pakistan: a case-control study.Annals of medicine and surgery (2012) · 2026Article
- Comparison of clinical nasal endoscopy, optical biopsy, and artificial intelligence in early diagnosis and treatment planning in laryngeal cancer: a prospective observational study.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Article
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionDelays in diagnosis and initiation of treatment have a negative impact on the prognosis and survival of head and neck cancer (HNC) patients. These delays also involve more intensive treatments with greater toxicity, dysfunction, and morbidity.
methodsThis was a retrospective observational study with patients diagnosed with HNC between January 1, 2018, and December 31, 2021. The main objective was to estimate whether the time to diagnosis (TD) and time until treatment initiation (TIT) translated into changes in the patient's overall survival (OS). Multivariate data analysis was performed with the Cox regression model. Significance was considered for p<0.05.
resultsA total of 139 patients were included in this study. Median TD was 126 days and median TIT was 43 days. No association between TD, TIT, treatment toxicity, and OS was found. Being a smoker was associated with a longer TD (p=0.05, hazard ratios {HR}=1.01). TIT was significantly shorter in higher grades (p=0.03, HR=0.57) and during coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) (p=0.04, HR=0.57), but higher in larger disease (tumor {T}) (p=0.04, HR=1.39). A higher T (p=0.01, HR=2.67) and lymph node metastasis (nodes {N}) (p=0.02, HR=2.24) were identified as risk factors with a negative impact on OS, whereas grade was positively correlated (p=0.05, HR=0.32).
conclusionsEven though there was no correlation between TD and TIT, and OS, action still needs to be taken to shorten these times. T and N remain negative predictive prognostic markers of HNC.
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