What do systematic reviews say?

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

Pre-operative and post-operative radiotherapy showed no clear difference in total mortality 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 0.67 [0.35, 1.28]
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Altered fractionation radiotherapy plus chemotherapy vs Chemoradiotherapy with standard (conventional) fractionation

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: radiotherapy 2010 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Discussion: 'there are no completed trials of altered fractionation plus chemotherapy versus chemoradiotherapy with standard fractionation.'
  0 studies
  No studies found

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

Pre-operative radiotherapy (plus surgery) vs surgery

Pre-operative radiotherapy (plus surgery) showed no clear difference in locoregional control compared with surgery alone; GRADE not reported.

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

  Timing unclear
  RR 0.63 [0.28, 1.46]
  1 study
  GRADE not reported

Altered fractionation radiotherapy vs Chemoradiotherapy (concurrent, standard fractionation)

The review found no eligible studies for this question.

• Interventions for the treatment of oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer: radiotherapy 2010 · Cochrane All outcomes
  Discussion: altered fractionation radiotherapy 'has not been directly compared to chemoradiotherapy'. No eligible head-to-head trials.
  0 studies
  No studies found