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Better vision function seems to be related to better quality of life after treatment for head and neck cancer, particularly among patients who have had surgery, according to Hsiao-Lan Wang, PhD, RN, Assistant Professor in the College of Nursing at the University of South Florida. Head and neck...
“The status quo for HPV [human papillomavirus]-associated oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma is not sufficient.… Our treatment is effective, but the toxicity associated with it is not tolerable.” And HPV-associated oropharyngeal cancer “is a cancer of relatively younger patients,” said Nishant...
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) has issued a new clinical guideline for the management of oropharyngeal cancer. The guideline, “Radiation therapy for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: An ASTRO Evidence-based Clinical Practice Guideline,” was published by Sher et ...
In a study of Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-9 (SEER-9) data reported in JAMA, Lim et al found that both thyroid cancer incidence and mortality have increased over recent decades, reflecting increases in papillary thyroid cancer incidence and mortality. These findings suggest that the...
In the phase II KEYNOTE-055 trial, pembrolizumab (Keytruda) was found to produce durable responses in patients with platinum- and cetuximab (Erbitux)-refractory head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Results of the trial were reported by Bauml et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology....
David G. Pfister, MD, of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, discusses the link between human papillomavirus and oropharyngeal cancers and what is known about the effect of HPV on treatment response and outcome.
In a study reported in the Journal of Oncology Practice, Thomas et al found that interruption of radiotherapy for head and neck cancer was more frequent and treatment outcomes were poorer among indigent populations vs commercially or Medicare-insured populations within a single academic health...
“More than any other disease, head and neck cancer requires constant interplay between a number of different specialties,” Sandeep Samant, MD, Chief, Head and Neck Surgery, Northwestern Medicine, and Chair of the Multidisciplinary Head & Neck Symposium sponsored by the Robert H. Lurie...
“The majority of patients with oral cavity cancers will undergo an unnecessary operation,” Sandeep Samant, MD, stated at a session on managing N0 neck cancer at the 2016 Lurie Cancer Center Multidisciplinary Head & Neck Symposium in Chicago.1 That operation is elective neck dissection, and it ...
Cornelius J.M. Melief, MD, PhD, Emeritus Professor at Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands and Chief Scientific Officer at ISA Pharmaceuticals, noted that toll-like receptors (TLRs) are useful in promoting immune activation in a variety of leukocytes and that the signaling pathways...
In the phase II Active8 trial, a novel immunotherapy agent, motolimod, failed to improve outcomes over chemotherapy plus cetuximab (Erbitux) in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. In a post hoc analysis, however, patients with injection-site...
“This is a big deal. This is going to change all of oncology, not just head and neck cancer,”1 Tanguy Seiwert, MD, remarked following a summary by Jeffrey Sosman, MD, on advances in immunotherapy for treating cancer.2 Dr. Sosman, Director of the Melanoma Program and Clinical Director of Cancer...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Larissa Nekhlyudov, MD, MPH, of Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and colleagues, ASCO has endorsed the 2016 American Cancer Society (ACS) guideline on head and neck cancer survivorship care. The endorsement was based on ...
In a study of National Cancer Database data reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Trifiletti et al found that adjuvant chemoradiotherapy was associated with a survival benefit in patients with resected locally advanced head and neck cancer with negative surgical margins and no extracapsular ...
Philip Poortmans, MD, PhD, President-Elect of the European CanCer Organisation (ECCO) and Head of the Radiation Oncology Department at Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, commented: “This research provides good evidence for the benefits of treating advanced-stage head...
Treating patients with head and neck cancer with hyperfractionated twice-daily radiation therapy combined with chemotherapy may potentially reduce mortality, according to new research presented by Claire Petit, PhD, and colleagues at the 2017 European Cancer Congress (ECCO).1 The study included...
After an infection with the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), the virus persists in the body throughout a person's lifetime, usually without causing any symptoms. About one-third of infected teenagers and young adults nevertheless develop infectious mononucleosis, which usually wears off after a few weeks. ...
University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists and doctors are embarking on the first clinical trial to determine if a genetic test they pioneered could successfully spare patients with nonaggressive thyroid cancer from complete removal of their thyroid. Thyroid-preserving surgery minimizes ...
In the phase II BERIL-1 trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Soulières et al found that adding the pan-PI3K (phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase) inhibitor buparlisib to paclitaxel improved outcomes in patients with platinum-pretreated recurrent metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and ...
Treating patients with head and neck cancer with hyperfractionated twice-daily radiation therapy combined with chemotherapy could potentially reduce mortality, according to new research presented by Petit et al at the 2017 European Cancer Congress (ECCO) (Abstract 823). The study, led by Claire...
Vanderbilt University School of Nursing Assistant Professor Jie Deng, PhD, RN, has been awarded a $789,000 research scholar grant by the American Cancer Society to develop and test a self-care program for head and neck cancer survivors diagnosed with secondary lymphedema/fibrosis....
According to the American Cancer Society, in the United States, thyroid cancer is the most rapidly increasing cancer, tripling in the past 3 decades, and is commonly diagnosed at a younger age than most other adult cancers. A study by Blackburn et al examining whether survivors of thyroid cancer...
Most patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck present with locally advanced disease. With combined-modality approaches, the chance of cure ranges from < 50% to up to 80%, depending on the site, stage, and other risk factors, such as human papillomavirus (HPV) status. When...
In the phase III CheckMate 141 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Robert L. Ferris, MD, PhD, of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and Cancer Institute, and colleagues found that nivolumab (Opdivo) increased overall survival vs standard therapies in patients with...
In an observational study reported in JAMA Oncology, Kelly et al found that overall survival was similar with upfront surgery and definitive chemoradiotherapy among patients with newly diagnosed cT1–2 N1–2b human papillomavirus (HPV)-negative oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma....
A new integrated genomic study by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network identified genetic alterations that distinguish the two most common subtypes of esophageal cancer. Esophageal cancer is a rare cancer in the United States, but the 8th most frequently diagnosed cancer worldwide. It...
New research from the University of Wisconsin (UW) Carbone Cancer Center has clarified the mechanisms involved in a common growth pathway implicated in many solid tumor types and could lead to better outcomes for patients with head and neck, lung, and triple-negative breast cancer,...
Asian patients with head and neck cancer live longer with pembrolizumab (Keytruda) immunotherapy than the overall population, according to a subanalysis of the KEYNOTE-012 trial presented at the ESMO Asia 2016 Congress in Singapore. “Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma is the seventh most...
In an individual patient-data meta-analysis reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Ribassin-Majed et al in the Meta-analysis of Chemotherapy in Nasopharyngeal Collaborative Group found that the addition of adjuvant chemotherapy to chemoradiotherapy was associated with the greatest overall...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chakravarthy et al found that human papillomavirus (HPV)-driven tumors accounted for 4.1% of nonoropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck. HPV-positive tumors were associated with poorer survival and reduced...
On November 10, 2016, nivolumab (Opdivo) was approved for treatment of recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck with disease progression on or after platinum-based therapy.1,2 Supporting Efficacy Data Approval was based on the finding of an overall survival advantage...
On November 10, 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck with disease progression on or after a platinum-based therapy. Approval was based on data from an...
An interim efficacy analysis from a phase I/II study of the combination of lirilumab and nivolumab (Opdivo) in the cohort of advanced platinum refractory squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, including exploratory biomarker analyses of patient response by level of programmed death ligand 1...
On November 10, 2016, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved nivolumab (Opdivo) for the treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck with disease progression on or after a platinum-based therapy. Approval was based on data from an...
Standard treatment for advanced head and neck cancer—including chemotherapy and radiation—causes painful side effects that impair quality of life, as well as the ability to socialize and engage in daily life activities. A new study of patients with platinum-refractory recurrent, metastatic head...
A study from the Duke Cancer Institute (DCI) has found a lack of statistical evidence to support the current practice of treating thyroid cancer patients under age 45 differently from those 45 and older. The study, published recently by Adam et al in the Journal of Clinical Oncology,...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Laura Q. Chow, MD, of the University of Washington, and colleagues, a fixed-dose reduced-frequency pembrolizumab (Keytruda) regimen produced durable responses in the phase IB KEYNOTE-012 expansion cohort of patients with recurrent or metastatic...
Next-generation sequencing of recurrent or metastatic head and neck tumors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) has provided insight into the molecular characteristics of these tumors, which may aid in the implementation of precision treatment. Luc G. Morris, MD, MSc, of Memorial Sloan...
The rise in the incidence of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma in the United Kingdom from 2002 to 2011 was not solely attributable to a rise in the incidence of human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive disease, according to a study published in Cancer Research,1 which reported that the proportion of ...
In the phase III CheckMate 141 trial reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, Ferris et al found that nivolumab (Opdivo) increased overall survival vs standard therapies in patients with recurrent platinum-refractory squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Study Details In this...
The treatment of cancer of the larynx has changed dramatically in recent years. With organ preservation now possible in many cases, it is more important than ever for patients to receive guidance from every corner of the field. In a recent article in the Journal of Oncology Practice (JOP),1 a...
Patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma achieved prolonged overall survival when concomitant chemotherapy was administered with locoregional treatment or radiotherapy, according to findings from a large meta-analysis reported by Blanchard et al at the European Society for Medical...
Nivolumab (Opdivo) maintains function and reduces symptoms in treatment of relapsed metastatic head and neck cancer, according to results from the CheckMate 141 trial presented by Harrington et al at the 2016 European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark (Abstract...
In a study reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chakravarthy et al found that human papillomavirus (HPV)-driven tumors accounted for 4.1% of nonoropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck. HPV-positive tumors were associated with poorer survival and reduced...
Ezra E.W. Cohen, MD, of the University of California, San Diego, discusses study findings on chemotherapy plus cetuximab in combination with motolimod immunotherapy in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. (Abstract LBA37)
In a Chinese phase III trial reported in The Lancet Oncology, Sun et al found that adding induction treatment with cisplatin, fluorouracil (5-FU), and docetaxel (TPF) to concurrent chemoradiotherapy improved failure-free survival in locoregionally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Study Details...
When it comes to cancer-causing viruses like human papillomavirus (HPV), researchers are continuing to find that infection with one strain may be better than another. In an analysis of survival data for patients with oropharyngeal cancer, researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC)...
As reported in the Journal of Clinical Oncology by Chow et al, a fixed-dose reduced-frequency pembrolizumab (Keytruda) regimen produced durable responses in the phase IB KEYNOTE-012 expansion cohort of patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. The response rate...
Joanne B. Weidhaas, MD, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles Radiation Oncology, discusses the KRAS variant as a biomarker of cetuximab response and altered immunity in head and neck cancer. (Abstract LBA-11)
Takeshi Kodaira, MD, PhD, of Aichi Cancer Center Hospital, discusses the final analysis of a randomized phase III trial of accelerated vs conventional fractionation radiotherapy for glottic cancer of T1-2N0M0. (Abstract LBA-8)