Chemoradiotherapy for head and neck cancer: current status and perspectives

Abstract

Chemoradiotherapy for head and neck cancer has achieved remarkable progress in the past two decades. This progress has resulted in efforts to redefine the standard of care for patients with this disease. A brief review of the history of current chemoradiotherapy was conducted to clarify the rationale for this approach. An attempt was made to present problems that remain to be solved. The review showed that chemoradiotherapy for head and neck cancer is now becoming a vital treatment option for patients with advanced disease. Currently available and upcoming data are about to clarify important issues regarding proper patient selection, standard procedures, management of toxicities, ultimate cure, and quality of life. This newly developed and promising treatment option has, however, confounding problems to be solved. Meticulous collaboration in an experienced multidisciplinary team is required to address these problems and to spread this approach in daily clinical practice.

Treatment outcomes of concurrent chemoradiotherapy for locally advanced sinonasal squamous cell carcinoma: A single-institution study

“…Sacrifice of these structures can cause esthetic and functional problems, both of which can directly impact patient quality-of-life [2,4,5,13]. CCRT is an accepted treatment for locally advanced SCC of the head and neck, with the aim of preserving the primary tumor site and improving patient survival [6][7][8]14,15]. However, the outcomes of CCRT as a primary treatment for locally advanced sinonasal SCC have not been extensively studied.…”

“…Concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) is increasingly used to treat patients with advanced head and neck cancer and to maximize the preservation of organ function and patient survival [6]. In patients with stage III/IV non-metastatic squamous cell head and neck cancer including maxillary sinus cancer, overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) rates after CCRT, which is performed to preserve the organ, were comparable to those after surgery and adjuvant RT [7].…”

FePt nanoparticles: a novel nanoprobe for enhanced HeLa cells sensitivity to chemoradiotherapy

“…[6][7][8] Therefore, developing new and effective therapeutic means which may overcome the shortages of the single traditional therapeutic regime is extremely urgent and desirable. Driven by this need, chemoradiotherapy, [9][10][11][12] the concurrent administration of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, has been developed to be a well-established treatment paradigm for treating cancers in oncology. Compared to either sequential treatment or sole implementation of chemotherapy or radiotherapy, chemoradiotherapy has been shown to combine the advantages of each therapy and consistently improve local tumor control and curative rates.…”