Publication: Effects of zinc supplementation on clinical outcomes in patients receiving radiotherapy for head and neck cancers: a double-blinded randomized study
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| Title | Effects of zinc supplementation on clinical outcomes in patients receiving radiotherapy for head and neck cancers: a double-blinded randomized study |
| Topic | Zinc |
| Author | Lin, L-C, Que, J, Lin, K-L, Leung, HW-C, Lu, C-L, Chang, C-H |
| Year | 2008 |
| Journal | nternational journal of radiation oncology, biology, physics |
| DOI | 10.1016/j.ijrobp.2007.06.073 |
Author's Abstract The abstract and the information and conclusions contained therein were written by the authors of the publication.
| Purpose: To evaluate the impact of zinc supplementation on the survival of patients after receiving radiotherapy for head and neck cancers.
Methods and Materials: Patients were randomly divided into two groups; experimental and control. Patients in the experimental group received a predetermined dose of a zinc supplement, and the control group, a placebo. The 50 patients in each group could be considered homogenous with respect to medical histories, tumor characteristics, and therapeutic details. Results: Patients in both groups appeared to have similar results for 3-year overall, disease-free, and metastases- free survival rates (p = 0.19, p = 0.54, and p = 0.35, respectively). However, patients in the experimental group had better 3-year local-free survival (LFS), although the difference was only marginal (p = 0.092). Another difference was that patients in the experimental group with Stages III–IV disease had a much better 3-year LFS rate when they received concurrent chemoradiotherapy (p = 0.003). Conclusions: One impact seen was that zinc supplementation improved LFS at 3 years after beginning treatment for patients with Stages III–IV disease. It is imperative that these patients be followed up for a longer period to draw a definite conclusion. |
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