Objective: To explore the role of adjuvant chemotherapy in the treatment of locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.
Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 360 newly diagnosed patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. One group received adjuvant chemotherapy after radical treatment, and the other group did not receive adjuvant chemotherapy. Radical treatment included radical surgery and radical radiotherapy/chemoradiotherapy. Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS), the Cox proportional risk model was used to study the risk factors affecting the prognosis of patients, and the patients were divided into radical radiotherapy group/chemoradiotherapy group, and radical surgery group (simple radical surgery, surgery + radiotherapy, surgery + concurrent chemoradiotherapy) according to whether the surgery was performed.
Results: Among 360 patients, the median survival time was （3138） days in the adjuvant chemotherapy group and （2212d） in the non-adjuvant chemotherapy group (P=0.02). In the radical radiotherapy/chemoradiotherapy group, the median survival time was （1974）days in the adjuvant chemotherapy group and（635）days in the non-adjuvant chemotherapy group, the difference was statistically significant (P=0.005). In the radical surgery group, adjuvant chemotherapy did not prolong patients' OS but had certain benefits in EFS. The median event-free survival in the adjuvant chemotherapy group versus the non-adjuvant chemotherapy group was （3138）days vs （2019）days, P=0.038.
Conclusion: Adjuvant chemotherapy may be valuable in patients with high-risk pathological factors after radical radiotherapy/chemoradiotherapy and radical surgery. Conclusions： Adjuvant chemotherapy may be valuable in patients with high-risk pathologic factors after radical surgery and after radical radiotherapy/chemoradiotherapy