TY  - JOUR
A1  - Müller-von der Grün, Jens
A1  - Rödel, Claus
A1  - Semrau, Sabine
A1  - Balermpas, Panagiotis
A1  - Martin, Daniel
A1  - Fietkau, Rainer
A1  - Haderlein, Marlen P.
T1  - Patterns of care analysis for salivary gland cancer: a survey within the German Society of Radiation Oncology (DEGRO) and recommendations for daily practice
T2  - Strahlentherapie und Onkologie
N2  - Background: Salivary gland cancer (SGC) is rare and a heterogeneous type of cancer. Prospective randomized trials are lacking. No guideline focusing on standard procedures of radiotherapy (RT) in the treatment of SGC exists. Therefore, we surveyed the members of the German Society of Radiation Oncology (DEGRO) to gain information about current therapeutic strategies of SGC. Methods: An anonymous questionnaire was designed and made available on the online platform umfrageonline.com. The corresponding link was sent to all DEGRO members who provided their user data for contact purposes. Alternatively, a PDF printout version was sent. Frequency distributions of responses for each question were calculated. The data were also analyzed by type of institution. Results: Sixty-seven responses were received, including answers from 21 university departments, 22 non-university institutions, and 24 radiation oncology practices. Six participants reported that their departments (practice: n = 5, non-university hospital: n = 1) did not treat SGC, and therefore the questionnaire was not completed. Concerning radiation techniques, target volume definition, and concomitant chemotherapy, treatment strategies varied greatly among the participants. Comparing university vs. non-university institutions, university hospitals treat significantly more patients with SGC per year and initiated more molecular pathological diagnostics. Conclusion: SGC represents a major challenge for clinicians, as reflected by the inhomogeneous survey results regarding diagnostics, RT approaches, and systemic therapy. Future prospective, multicenter clinical trials are warranted to improve and homogenize treatment of SGC and to individualize treatment according to histologic subtypes and risk factors.
KW  - Salivary gland cancer
KW  - Molecular diagnostics
KW  - Systemic therapy
KW  - Radiotherapy
KW  - Stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy
Y1  - 2021
UR  - http://publikationen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/frontdoor/index/index/docId/62610
UR  - https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:hebis:30:3-626106
SN  - 1439-099X
N1  - This work was supported by grants from the Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung to Jens von der Grün. The authors did not receive support from any organization for the submitted work. Open Access funding enabled and organized by Projekt DEAL.
VL  - 2021
IS  - Online Version before inclusion in an issue
PB  - Springer Medizin
CY  - Berlin; Heidelberg
ER  -