Survival Outcomes of Temporal Bone Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta‐Analysis

Abstract

AbstractObjectiveTemporal bone squamous cell carcinoma (TBSCC) is a rare malignancy with poor prognosis, and optimal treatment for advanced cases is uncertain. Our systematic literature review aimed to assess 5‐year survival outcomes for advanced TBSCC across different treatment modalities.Data SourcesEMBASE, Medline, PubMed, and Web of Science.Review MethodsA systematic literature review was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses guidelines for articles published between January 1989 and June 2023.ResultsThe review yielded 1229 citations of which 31 provided 5‐year survival data for TBSCC. The final analysis included 1289 patients. T classification data was available for 1269 patients and overall stage for 1033 patients. Data for 5‐year overall survival (OS) was 59.6%. Five‐year OS was 81.9% for T1/2 and 47.5% for T3/4 (P < .0001). OS for T1/T2 cancers did not significantly differ between surgery and radiation (100% vs 81.3%, P  = .103). For advanced‐stage disease (T3/T4), there was no statistical difference in OS when comparing surgery with postoperative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) (OS 50.0%) versus surgery with postoperative radiotherapy (XRT) (OS 53.3%) versus definitive CRT (OS 58.1%, P  = .767‐1.000). There was not enough data to assess the role of neoadjuvant CRT.ConclusionMost patients will present with advanced‐stage disease, and nodal metastasis is seen in nearly 22% of patients. This study confirms the prognostic correlation of the current T classification system. Our results suggest that OS did not differ significantly between surgery and XRT for early stage disease, and combined treatment modalities yield similar 5‐year OS for advanced cancers.