Head & Neck Cancer Health Care Delivery Research Nomograms to Predict Treatment Delay

For patients with locoregionally advanced, surgically treated head and neck cancer, National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) Guidelines recommend starting postoperative radiation therapy (PORT) within 6 weeks of surgery to maximize survival and decrease the risk of recurrence.

Unfortunately, delays in starting PORT after surgical treatment of head and neck cancer affect more than one out of every two head and neck cancer patients.

To address the lack of precise tools to predict treatment delays, our Head and Neck Cancer Healthcare Delivery Team has generated two risk-prediction calculators. The first calculator generates personalized estimates of PORT initiation delay and may be used to improve pretreatment counseling and the delivery of interventions to patients at high risk for PORT delay. The second calculator includes postsurgical data to calculate a risk of PORT delay and can be used to drive institutional quality improvement initiatives and enhance risk-adjusted comparisons of PORT delay rates across facilities.

Personalized, Presurgical Calculator to Predict the Risk of Delayed Postoperative Radiation Therapy

Calculator to Predict the Risk of Delayed Postoperative Radiation Therapy for Quality Improvement Initiatives and Institutional Risk-Adjustment

More Information About These Risk Calculators

For more information about the development and validation of these risk calculators, please see:

Levy D, Li H, Sterba KR, Hughes-Halbert C, Warren GW, Nussenbaum B, Alberg AJ, Day TA, Graboyes EM. Development and Validation of Nomograms for Predicting Delayed Postoperative Radiotherapy Initiation in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma. JAMA Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2020;146(5):455-464. PMID: 32239201. PMCI D: PMC7118672