Toxicities associated with head and neck cancer treatment and oncology-related clinical trials

Approximately 600,000 new cases of head and neck cancer (HNC) would be diagnosed worldwide this year. Of those, a bit less than 10% would occur in the United States.1 Most of these neoplasms would be histologically diagnosed as squamous cell carcinomas for which the preferred treatment typically consists of a multimodality approach that includes local resection followed by a course of concomitant chemoradiation in which radiosensitizing chemotherapy (most commonly cisplatin) is coupled with cumulative radiation doses of 60-70Gy given in 1.8-2.2Gy daily fractions.
Source: Current Problems in Cancer - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Source Type: research