Survival Associations between Patient Age and Treatment Modality in Olfactory Neuroblastoma: A Retrospective Population-Based Study

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Andre J. Burnham, Emory University; Philip A. Burnham, University of Vermont; Edwin Horwitz, Emory University
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-06-01
• Publisher: MDPI
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2021 by the authors.
• License: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jcm10122685
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 12
• Grant/Funding Information: This research received no external funding.
• Keywords: General & Internal Medicine; ESTHESIONEUROBLASTOMA; Life Sciences & Biomedicine; Science & Technology; esthesioneuroblastoma; head and neck cancer; olfactory neuroblastoma; chemotherapy; Medicine, General & Internal; pediatric cancer; PROGNOSIS; OUTCOMES
• Research Categories: Biology, Neuroscience; Health Sciences, Oncology

Abstract

Olfactory neuroblastoma (ONB) is a rare neuroepithelial-derived malignancy that usually presents in the nasal cavity. The rarity of ONB has led to conflicting reports regarding associations of patient age and ONB survival and outcome. Moreover, long-term outcomes of chemotherapy and other treatment modalities are speculated. Here, we aimed to compare survival outcomes across age groups through time and determine associations between treatment modality and survival. In this retrospective population-based study, we analyzed the SEER 2000-2016 Database for patients with ONB tumors. Using Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, a significant effect of age and cancer-specific survival (CSS) was observed; geriatric ONB patients had the lowest CSS overall. Generalized linear models and survival analyses demonstrated that CSS of the pediatric patient population was similar to the geriatric group through 100 months but plateaued thereafter and was the highest of all age groups. Radiation and surgery were associated with increased CSS, while chemotherapy was associated with decreased CSS. GLM results showed that tumor grade, stage and lymph node involvement had no CSS associations with age or treatment modality. Our results provide insight for future investigations of long-term outcomes associated with ONB patient age and treatment modality, and we conclude that survival statistics of ONB patients should be analyzed in terms of trends through time rather than fixed in time.