Incidence and survival of HNSCC patients living with HIV compared with HIV-negative HNSCC patients
K Haase, Iris Piwonski, Carmen Stromberger, Nadine Thieme, Max Heiland, Benedicta Beck‐Broichsitter, Veit M. Hofmann, Grzegorz Kofla, Steffen Sander, U. Keilholz, Konrad Neumann, Katharina Stölzel, Heidi Olze, Philipp Arens, Steffen Dommerich, Annekatrin Coordes
Abstract
PURPOSE: The aim was to analyze the incidence and survival of patients living with HIV (PLWH) with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and to compare with a control group of HIV-negative HNSCC patients. METHODS: Clinicopathological data and predictors for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were investigated (2009-2019). RESULTS: , cART treatment, T and UICC classification, oral cavity and nasal/paranasal sinuses, and therapy were significantly associated with OS in univariate analysis. In the multivariate analysis, only age and HIV-PCR independently predicted OS. The OS of the 50 PLWH was not significantly altered compared with the 5101 HIV-negative controls. However, OS and DFS were significantly inferior in advanced tumor stages of PLWH compared with an age-matched control group of 150 HIV-negative patients. CONCLUSIONS: PLWH were diagnosed with HNSCC at a significantly younger age compared to HIV-negative patients. Taking into account patient age at initial diagnosis, both OS and DFS rates in PLWH are significantly worse compared with a matched control group of HIV-negative patients in advanced tumor stages UICC III/IV. The prognosis (OS) is improved when taking cART treatment, the HIV viral load is undetectable and CD4 count is high.