PATH classification: a proposal for patients with HNSCC treated with salvage surgery.

Purpose: The aim of this study is to propose a classification for patients with recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) treated with salvage surgery based on the location of the primary tumor and data commonly found in the pathological report of the resection.

Methods: Retrospective study of 665 patients with HNSCC treated with a salvage surgery after a local and/or regional recurrence of the tumor.

Results: We propose a new postoperative classification for patients with recurrent HNSCC treated with salvage surgery. PATH classification stratifies patients into 4 stages based on the glottic or non-glottic location of the primary tumor, the local and regional pathologic extension of the tumor, the status of the surgical margins, and the presence of lymph node metastases with extracapsular spread. The PATH classification was more homogeneous in the prognosis of patients included in each of its stages, and it had a better prognostic discrimination capacity between stages than the rpTNM classification. According to the PATH classification, the 5-year disease-specific survival was: PATH I (n = 306) 82.8%; PATH II (n = 119) 47.1%; PATH III (n = 202) 24.4%; PATH IV (n = 38) 3.7%. For the rpTNM classification, the 5-year disease-specific survival was: stage I (n = 119) 85.1%; stage II (n = 134) 68.4%; stage III (n = 111) 59.5%; stage IV (n = 301) 33.3%.

Conclusion: The PATH classification for HNSCC patients with local and/or regional recurrence treated with salvage surgery had a better prognostic capacity than the rpTNM classification.

Level of evidence: Level IV.