Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze the prognostic value of baseline hemoglobin levels before radiotherapy in patients with head and neck tumors.
Patients and methods: In a retrospective study with a median follow-up of 43 months, we analyzed the results of 214 patients irradiated for head and neck cancer between January 1, 1990 and January 1, 1998 (180 men and 34 women; median age 58 years). The treatment concept consisted in adjuvant radiotherapy in 58 patients, 77 patients received definitive radiochemotherapy, 42 patients definitive radiotherapy, and 37 patients reirradiation for in-field recurrence. Baseline hemoglobin values were divided in four groups of the same patient number (quartiles). Several known prognostic factors like sex, age, tumor stage, histologic grading, performance status, and treatment scheme were analyzed for their influence on overall and event-free survival and correlated with pretreatment hemoglobin values (Kaplan-Meier method). In addition, univariate und multivariate logistic regression analyses were carried out to evaluate the effect of baseline hemoglobin on response rates.
Results: The median survival (event-free survival) of all patients amounted to 15 months (10 months). 25%, 50%, and 75% of patients had hemoglobin values < 11.2 g/dl, < 12.7 g/dl, and < 13.9 g/dl, respectively. In the univariate analysis, the following variables were significant prognostic factors for overall/event-free survival (log-rank test): treatment concept (p < 0.001/p < 0.001), tumor stage (p < 0.001/p < 0.001), general condition (p < 0.001/p < 0.001), and pretreatment hemoglobin (p = 0.014/p = 0.05). Multivariate analysis (Cox) proved these parameters to be independent of each other. In addition, response rate after radiation showed a strong association between hemoglobin and local control probability (p = 0.02).
Conclusion: In this retrospective analysis, baseline hemoglobin level was shown to be an independent significant prognostic factor in radiotherapy of head and neck cancer patients. Therefore, the value of tumor anemia as a prognostic factor should be emphasized more.