Clinical and pathologic characteristics of patientsa
| Characteristic | All Patients (n = 183) (No.) (%) | Solid Node Group (n = 78) (No.) (%) | Cystic Node Group (n = 105) (No.) (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean age (yr) | 56.1 | 56.2 | 56.1 |
| Male sex | 168 (91.8) | 75 (96.2) | 93 (88.6) |
| Smoking status | |||
| Never smoked (<1 Py) | 56 (30.6) | 23 (29.4) | 33 (31.4) |
| Ever smoked | 120 (65.6) | 51 (65.3) | 69 (65.7) |
| <10 Py | 14 (7.7) | 4 (5.1) | 10 (9.5) |
| >10 Py | 68 (37.1) | 30 (38.5) | 38 (36.2) |
| Unknown Py | 38 (20.7) | 17 (21.8) | 21 (20.0) |
| Unknown | 1 (0.5) | 0 (0.0) | 1 (0.95) |
| Other tobacco | 6 (3.3) | 4(5.1) | 2 (1.9) |
| T classification | |||
| T1 | 74 (40.4) | 28 (35.9) | 46 (43.8) |
| T2 | 73 (39.9) | 35 (44.9) | 38 (36.2) |
| T3 | 16 (8.7) | 7(8.9) | 9 (8.6) |
| T4 | 17 (9.3) | 7 (9.0) | 10 (9.5) |
| Unknown | 3 (1.6) | 1 (1.3) | 2 (1.9) |
| N classification | |||
| N1 | 31 (16.9) | 13 (16.7) | 18 (17.1) |
| N2a | 24 (13.1) | 11 (14.1) | 13 (12.4) |
| N2b | 97 (53.0) | 37 (47.4) | 60 (57.1) |
| N2c | 26 (14.2) | 14 (17.9) | 12 (11.4) |
| N3 | 5 (2.7) | 3 (3.8) | 2 (1.9) |
| Overall stage | |||
| Stage III | 28 (15.3) | 10 (12.8) | 18 (17.1) |
| Stage IV | 155 (84.7) | 68 (87.2) | 87 (82.9) |
| Primary tumor site | |||
| Tonsil | 103 (56.2) | 41 (53.0) | 62 (60.0) |
| BOT | 76 (41.5) | 35 (44.9) | 41 (39.0) |
| Other | 2 (1.1) | 1 (1.3) | 1 (0.95) |
| Unknown | 2 (1.1) | 1 (1.3) | 1 (0.95) |
| Treatment | |||
| CRT | 132 (72.1) | 57 (73.1) | 75 (71.4) |
| Operation | 12 (6.6) | 5 (6.4) | 7 (6.7) |
| Operation + MMT | 39 (21.3) | 16 (20.5) | 23 (21.9) |
Note:—Py indicates pack-year; BOT, base of tongue; CRT, chemoradiotherapy; MMT, multimodality therapy.
↵a No statistically significant correlation was found among any of the listed clinical and demographic variables compared with solid/cystic nodal status.