To analyse the incidence of second primary lung cancer following treatment for laryngeal cancer and to identify risk factors for its development.

Retrospective case series.

The five-year actuarial incidence of second primary lung cancer was 8 per cent (1.6 per cent per year). This was associated with a very poor median survival of seven months following diagnosis. Supraglottic tumours were associated with an increased risk of second primary lung cancer compared to glottic tumours in both univariate (hazard ratio = 4.32, p = 0.005) and multivariate analyses (hazard ratio = 4.14, p = 0.03).

Second primary lung cancer occurs at a rate of 1.6 per cent per year following a diagnosis of laryngeal cancer, and this is associated in a statistically significant manner with supraglottic primary tumour. The recent National Lung Cancer Screening Trial suggests a survival advantage of 20 per cent at five years with annual screening using low-dose computed tomography scanning of the chest in a comparable cohort to ours. These findings have the potential to inform post-treatment surveillance protocols in the future.

There is limited information available regarding the benefits and outcomes of resection of pulmonary metastases arising from head and neck cancers.

A retrospective review was performed of 21 patients who underwent resection of pulmonary metastases of primary head and neck malignancies at Hamamatsu University Hospital. Clinical staging, treatment methods, pathological subtype (particularly squamous cell carcinoma), disease-free interval and overall survival were evaluated.

The 5- and 10-year overall survival rates of the study participants were 67.0 per cent and 55.0 per cent, respectively, as determined by the Kaplan–Meier method. The prognosis for patients with a disease-free interval of less than 24 months was poor compared to those with a disease-free interval of greater than 24 months (p = 0.0234).

Patients with short disease-free intervals, and possibly those who are older than 60 years, should be categorised as having severe disease. However, pulmonary metastases from head and neck malignancies are potentially curable by surgical resection.

We present a case report and systematic review of acute mastoiditis caused by metastatic lung cancer.

A 62-year-old woman developed acute mastoiditis as a complication of otitis media. Cortical mastoidectomy revealed deposits of metastatic non-small cell lung carcinoma around the sigmoid sinus. The patient had previously received treatment for lung cancer, but was thought to be in remission.

A literature review confirmed that this is the first reported case of mastoiditis caused by metastatic lung cancer. Only four similar case reports were identified: two caused by breast carcinoma, one by renal cell carcinoma and one by cholangiocarcinoma. Post-mortem histopathological studies suggest that temporal bone metastasis occurs in 22 per cent of oncology cases.

This is the first reported case of mastoiditis caused by metastatic lung cancer. Metastasis to the temporal bone is not uncommon, but rarely causes mastoiditis.

Patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck constitute a high risk group for synchronous and metachronous tumours.

This study aimed to investigate the usefulness of white light and autofluorescence bronchoscopy in the evaluation of pre-malignant and early neoplastic lesions in patients with laryngeal cancer, who are at high risk of concomitant lung cancer.

This prospective, cross-sectional study included 30 patients who had undergone total laryngectomy for squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx. The tracheobronchial system was investigated for the presence of pre-malignant and malignant lesions, using a combination of white light and autofluorescence bronchoscopy. Biopsies were obtained from areas with a pathological appearance, and histopathological studies were performed.

All patients had a permanent tracheostomy. Light and autofluorescence bronchoscopy indicated that the tracheobronchial system was normal in 11 patients. A total of 27 biopsies was taken from the remaining 19 patients, and revealed invasive squamous cell carcinoma in one patient and pre-malignant changes in six.

Bronchoscopy is a valuable and practical tool for screening patients at high risk of lung cancer, and requires minimal intervention especially in patients with a permanent tracheostomy. Of the various bronchoscopic techniques becoming available, autofluorescence bronchoscopy shows promise for the detection of pre-invasive malignant changes of the tracheobronchial system in patients previously operated upon for laryngeal cancer.

Self-reported health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is an important predictor of survival alongside clinical variables and physicians' prediction. This study assessed whether better prediction is achieved using generic (SF-36) HRQoL measures or cancer-specific (EORTC QLQ-C30) measures that include symptoms.

Fifty-four lung and 46 colorectal patients comprised the sample. Ninety-four died before study conclusion. EORTC QLQ-C30 and SF-36 scores and demographic and clinical information were collected at baseline. Follow-up was 5 years. Deaths were flagged by the Office of National Statistics. Cox regression survival analyses were conducted. Surviving cases were censored in the analysis.

Univariate analyses showed that survival was significantly associated with better EORTC QLQ-C30 physical functioning, role functioning, and global health and less dyspnea and appetite loss. For the SF-36, survival was significantly associated with better emotional role functioning, general health, energy/vitality, and social functioning. The SF-36 summary score for mental health was significantly related to better survival, whereas the SF-36 summary score for physical health was not. In the multivariate analysis, only the SF-36 mental health summary score remained an independent, significant predictor, mainly due to considerable intercorrelations between HRQoL scales. However, models combining the SF-36 mental health summary score with diagnosis explained a similar amount of variance (12%–13%) as models combining diagnosis with single scale SF-36 Energy/Vitality or EORTC QLQ-C30 Appetite Loss.

HRQoL contributes significantly to prediction of survival. Generic measures are at least as useful as disease-specific measures including symptoms. Intercorrelations between HRQoL variables and between HRQoL and clinical variables makes it difficult to identify prime predictors. We need to identify variables that are as independent of each other as possible to maximize predictive power and produce more consistent results.