Influence of Smoking History on Imaging Characteristics among HPV-Positive Oropharyngeal Cancer Patients: A Blinded Matched-Pair Analysis

摘要

Background and PurposeHuman papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal cancers represent a distinct clinical entity with more favorable prognosis than HPV-negative oropharyngeal cancers. However, among patients with HPV-positive oropharyngeal carcinomas, those with a significant smoking history have a much worse prognosis. Recently, imaging characteristics of oropharyngeal cancers were identified as markers of poor prognosis. The purpose of this study was to determine whether nodal imaging characteristics differ between smokers and never/light smokers with HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer.