Roldan CS, Chen JJ, Fareed MM, et al. - Researchers investigated how primary tumor-specific growth rate (TSGR) determines treatment outcomes after definitive radiation therapy (RT) for nonoropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (non-OPSCC). They modeled the diagnostic tumor and nodal volumes of 39 non-OPSCC patients and compared this to corresponding RT planning scan volumes to determine TSGR. The median follow-up was 22 months (range: 1–86 months) and median time between diagnostic and simulation computed tomography scans was 22 days (range: 7–170 days). Findings suggest the value of TSGR as a temporal biomarker in patients with non-OPSCC. They identified significantly worse overall survival for patients with high TSGR ≥ 2.18% per day vs those with TSGR below this threshold. Patients with particularly aggressive and rapidly growing tumors may benefit from efforts addressing treatment initiation delays.