What do systematic reviews say?

Altered fractionation radiotherapy (hyperfractionated and/or accelerated) vs Conventional (standard) fractionation radiotherapy

Altered fractionation radiotherapy (hyperfractionated and/or… showed no clear difference in disease free survival compared with conventional (standard) fractionation radiotherapy; GRADE not reported.

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: radiotherapy 2010 · Cochrane All outcomes
  HR 0.85 [0.70, 1.03]
  8 studies
  GRADE not reported
• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: radiotherapy 2010 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Hyperfractionated/accelerated vs conventional, disease free survival: one trial (Poulsen 2001); no statistically significant difference (Analysis 1.3). No pooled estimate.
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Neutron radiotherapy vs Conventional photon radiotherapy

Neutron radiotherapy showed no clear difference in disease free survival compared with conventional photon radiotherapy; GRADE not reported.

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: radiotherapy 2010 · Cochrane All outcomes

  5 years
  RR 0.63 [0.36, 1.09]
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Accelerated radiotherapy with concomitant boost vs Conventional (standard) fractionation radiotherapy

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: radiotherapy 2010 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Accelerated/boost vs conventional, disease free survival: all four trials provided data; pooled estimate showed a statistically significant difference in favour of the accelerated/boost schedule, with statistical…
  4 studies · 1203 participants
  GRADE not reported

Pre-operative and post-operative radiotherapy vs Post-operative radiotherapy alone

Pre-operative and post-operative radiotherapy showed no clear difference in disease free survival compared with post-operative radiotherapy alone; GRADE not reported.

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: radiotherapy 2010 · Cochrane All outcomes
  HR 1.13 [0.78, 1.64]
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Split‐course radiotherapy (8 fractions, 30 Gy) vs Accelerated radiotherapy

Split-course radiotherapy showed no clear difference in disease free survival compared with accelerated radiotherapy; GRADE not reported.

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: radiotherapy 2010 · Cochrane All outcomes

  2 years
  RR 0.83 [0.29, 2.42]
  1 study · 110 participants
  GRADE not reported

Hyperfractionated radiotherapy vs Conventional (standard) fractionation radiotherapy

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: radiotherapy 2010 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Hyperfractionated vs conventional, disease free survival: data available for one trial (Fu 2000); no statistically significant difference (Analysis 1.3). No pooled estimate reported.
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Hyperfractionated/accelerated/split-course radiotherapy vs Conventional (standard) fractionation radiotherapy

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: radiotherapy 2010 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Hyperfractionated/accelerated/split vs conventional, disease free survival: two trials (Fu 2000, Olmi 2003); results contradictory with substantial statistical heterogeneity (P = 0.02, I2 = 82%); no pooled estimate…
  2 studies
  GRADE not reported

Accelerated radiotherapy (no split, boost or hyperfractionation) vs Conventional (standard) fractionation radiotherapy

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: radiotherapy 2010 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Accelerated vs conventional, disease free survival: both trials reported this, but substantial clinical and statistical heterogeneity (P = 0.0004, I2 = 92%) meant a pooled analysis was not reported (Analysis 1.3).
  2 studies
  GRADE not reported

Hyperfractionated/accelerated split-course radiotherapy vs Accelerated radiotherapy with concomitant boost

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: radiotherapy 2010 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Fu 1995: no significant difference in disease free survival; data not presented in a way that allows calculation of an HR.
  1 study · 75 participants
  GRADE not reported