No specific findings to ID recurrence in head and neck CA

(HealthDay)—For patients treated for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), no definite index of symptoms or signs indicates local recurrence or second primary malignancy, according to a study published online Sept. 2 in Head & Neck.

Pei-Hsuan Lin, M.D., from the National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei, and colleagues examined 136 patients treated for HNSCC with swallowing disorders who received transnasal esophagoscopy.

The researchers found that one-third of the patients had local recurrence (32 patients) or second primary malignancy (14 patients). For patients with and without local recurrence or second primary malignancy, common swallowing disorders and objective transnasal esophagoscopy findings were similar.

"No definite index of symptoms and signs was an indicator of local recurrence or second primary malignancy in the patients treated for HNSCC," the authors write. "Routine transnasal esophagoscopy examination of patients treated for HNSCC with swallowing disorders is strongly recommended."