Purpose: To report the efficacy of treatment and to identify prognostic factors that were predictive of survival in primary tumors of the trachea treated with radiotherapy.
Methods and materials: The medical records of patients treated at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute in the period 1962 to 1995 were reviewed. Forty-two patients were eligible for the study and were treated with radiotherapy. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was the commonest subtype and patients generally presented with long-standing respiratory symptoms. Eleven patients were planned for treatment with at least 50 Gy to the primary, while the rest were treated with lower doses.
Results: The estimated median survival for all patients was 5.7 months, with 13% surviving at 2 years. Univariate analysis revealed performance status, weight loss, and lymph node or distant metastatic involvement as significant prognostic factors. Patients planned for treatment with at least 50 Gy survived longer than patients treated with less than 50 Gy, but this was probably due to selection of patients with better prognostic factors for higher dose treatment.