Current Concepts in Chemotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer

Abstract

This article highlights the evidence-based data to support systemic treatment options for patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The discovery of the human papillomavirus epidemic in HNSCC and its favorable prognosis has led to a major focus of research. Patients are stratified into clinical or pathologic risk categories and enrolled in trials comparing standard treatment paradigms with deintensification, in low-risk disease, or to intensification, in intermediate-risk or high-risk disease. Immunotherapy has proven beneficial in second-line palliative therapy and is under investigation in first-line palliative therapy and as a component of definitive, multimodality therapy for high-risk patients.

Keywords: Chemotherapy; Deintensification; HPV-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (HPV-OPSCC); Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC); Previously untreated locally advanced (PULA) head and neck cancer.