Disparities in Treating Head and Neck Cancer in Women
Jed A. Katzel, MD, medical oncologist at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara, discusses the findings from a study using a generalized competing event model to look at patients with head and neck cancer.
Jed A. Katzel, MD, medical oncologist at Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara, discusses the findings from a study using a generalized competing event (GCE) model to look at patients with head and neck cancer.
According to this analysis, women were more likely to die from head and neck cancer than from other causes. Katzel says this is particularly significant as the rate of oral pharynx head and neck cancer was only 38% in women versus 55% in men.
These results are also important because oral pharynx is more likely than other head and neck cancers to be HPV-related. HPV-related head and neck cancers have better prognosis and have been more responsive to therapy, Katzel notes.
