Efficacy of current regular follow-up policy after treatment for head and neck cancer: Need for individualized and obligatory follow-up strategy.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to report the efficacy of routine follow-up after head and neck cancer treatment. METHOD Data for 520 patients with head and neck cancer registered with between 2002 and 2008 were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS The mean ± SD follow-up period taken into account was 34.7 ± 22.8 months. The pickup rate for recurrence using our follow-up protocol in this cohort was 1 in every 79 visits (1.26%). High pickup rates were observed in patients older than 70 years and patients with advanced T classification, whereas low pickup rates were observed in patients who had received treatment including surgery. The only factor on multivariate analysis to influence follow-up visits was surgical treatment (p = .043). CONCLUSION Individualized and obligatory follow-up policy is desirable considering various factors, especially age, T classification, and whether treatment modality includes surgery or not.