Background: Anti-PD1-Checkpoint inhibition (CI) is an established treatment of recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck cancer. A potential benefit from CI in early-stage disease that is usually treated by radiation or surgery has not been investigated so far and is currently not addressed in clinical trials.
Case presentation: A 58-year-old man was diagnosed with a cT2 supraglottic laryngeal cancer and a synchronous metastasized adenocarcinoma of the lung. As the patient refused any treatment of his laryngeal cancer, he received combined immune-chemotherapy according to the KEYNOTE-189 protocol. After 4 cycles of pembrolizumab/carboplatin/pemetrexed, the patient showed a complete remission of his laryngeal cancer with a clear shrinkage of the mediastinal and hilar lung cancer metastases. After 21 cycles of maintenance therapy, the lung adenocarcinoma shows a stable disease status with no signs of any residual or recurrent laryngeal cancer.
Conclusions: Anti-PD1-CI may be a treatment option also for early-stage HNSCC with excellent functional outcome when established therapies are not available.
Keywords: Early-stage disease; Head and neck cancer; Immunotherapy; Pembrolizumab.
© 2022. The Author(s).