Head and Neck cancers-major changes in the American Joint Committee on cancer eighth edition cancer staging manual.

Answer questions and earn CME/CNE The recently released eighth edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Staging Manual, Head and Neck Section, introduces significant modifications from the prior seventh edition. This article details several of the most significant modifications, and the rationale for the revisions, to alert the reader to evolution of the field. The most significant update creates a separate staging algorithm for high-risk human papillomavirus-associated cancer of the oropharynx, distinguishing it from oropharyngeal cancer with other causes.

The 90-day mortality after pancreatectomy for cancer is double the 30-day mortality: more than 20,000 resections from the national cancer data base.

Background: Operative mortality traditionally has been defined as the rate within 30 days or during the initial hospitalization, and studies that established the volume-outcome relationship for pancreatectomy used similar definitions.

Methods: Pancreatectomies reported to the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB) during 2007-2010 were examined for 30- and 90-day mortality. Unadjusted mortality rates were compared by type of resection, stage, comorbidities, and average annual hospital volume.