Meta-analysis on survival of patients treated with transoral surgery versus radiotherapy for early-stage squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx.

BACKGROUND Transoral surgery (TOS) for patients with early stage oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is increasingly used, however, criticized, because of less optimal access to the tumor than open techniques and thus potentially jeopardizing tumor control in comparison with radiotherapy (RT). Therefore, we compared the currently available data on survival provided by TOS versus RT. METHODS Survival data were extracted after a MEDLINE, Web of Science, and Google Scholar search followed by a meta-analysis. RESULTS The analysis was based on 729 patients in the RT group versus 276 in the TOS group with similar quality of studies in both groups. The 5-year disease-specific survival (DSS)/overall survival (OS) was 90.4% (95% confidence interval [CI], 85.6% to 95.2%/58.8%; 95% CI, 52.8% to 64.7%) in the RT group versus 89.6% (95% CI, 81.8% to 97.3%/78.1%; 95% CI, 71.2% to 85.1%) in the TOS group. CONCLUSION The data suggest equivalent efficacy of both treatments in terms of disease control for early stage oropharyngeal SCC. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Head Neck 38: 2143-2150.