Treatment de-escalation for HPV-driven oropharyngeal cancer: Where do we stand?

Abstract

HPV-driven oropharyngeal cancers have significantly better survival rates than tobacco and alcohol induced head and neck cancers. As HPV-positive patients are younger, healthier and far more likely to survive their disease, long-term treatment side effects are becoming a major issue. This has led the scientific and medical community to reassess the current treatment protocols in order to develop less toxic strategies while maintaining good oncological outcomes. In this article, we discuss the ongoing treatment de-escalation trials and highlight the issues raised by these studies.

Keywords

• Human papillomavirus (HPV)
• Oropharynx/oropharyngeal
• Cancer/neoplasm
• Treatment de-escalation/de-intensification