Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Clinical trials provide valuable treatment insights but often fail to represent real-world outcomes. This is particularly true for advanced laryngeal cancer patients, who face significant co-morbidities and socioeconomic challenges. This study evaluates whether outcomes from research datasets in The Cancer Imaging Archive reflect real-world survival in a regional cohort from North-East England. METHODS: This retrospective analysis compares outcomes between The Cancer Imaging Archive (n = 198) and North-East England (n = 222) cohorts. Demographics, treatment modalities and five-year disease-specific survival were assessed via Kaplan-Meier curves and Cox regression. RESULTS: North-East England had a lower five-year disease-specific survival (59.2 per cent vs. 76.9 per cent; p = 0.0018) and was characterised by greater co-morbidity burden and upfront surgery with adjuvant therapy (51 per cent), whereas The Cancer Imaging Archive patients received upfront chemoradiotherapy (53 per cent) or radiotherapy alone (41 per cent). CONCLUSION: The poorer real-world outcomes reflect the challenges of generalising research data to heterogeneous populations. Bridging the gap between research efficacy and real-world effectiveness is critical to delivering equitable care for advanced laryngeal cancer.