ArticleCancer2025
A comprehensive approach to defining the cutoff value of oligometastasis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
Article in Cancer, 2025. 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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Who cites it
2 citing papers in PubMed.
- Refining distant metastasis stage in oral squamous cell carcinoma.World journal of surgical oncology · 2025Article
- A comprehensive approach to defining the cutoff value of oligometastasis in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.Cancer · 2025Article
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11 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundPatients with limited distant metastatic disease, also known as oligometastasis, show better survival rates than polymetastatic patients, and may be amenable for curative-intent treatment. The definition of oligometastasis, however, is unknown, and no quantitative analyses on the cutoff value for oligometastasis have been performed before. This study aims to derive specific threshold values for the number of metastases and affected locations that defines oligometastatic disease in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
methodsA retrospective cohort study was conducted including all patients diagnosed with distant metastases between 2006 and 2021. For each patient, the number of distant metastases and affected locations was recorded on the basis of the available imaging at the time of diagnosis. Cox regression analyses and a machine-learning k-means algorithm were used to determine threshold values.
resultsA total of 384 patients untreated for their metastatic foci were analyzed. Most patients (n = 207; 53.9%) had metastasis to one anatomic location, followed by metastases in two anatomic locations (n = 62; 16.1%). The majority of patients had ≥9 metastatic foci (n = 174; 45.3%), followed by one focus (n = 74; 19.3%) and two foci (n = 32; 8.3%). Cox regression and machine-learning k-means models showed that although the number of metastases did not predict survival, the number of affected locations did significantly (p < .001), by identifying a threshold of two locations.
conclusionsContrary to the prevalent dogma, the definition of oligometastasis should not be defined by the number of metastases but rather by the number of affected locations, with a maximum number of affected locations set at two.
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