Challenges of Radiotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer

A special issue of Cancers (ISSN 2072-6694). This special issue belongs to the section "Cancer Therapy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2023) | Viewed by 1816

Special Issue Editor


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Radiation Oncology, Institute of Oncology, Zaloška 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Interests: head and neck cancer; neuroendocrine neoplasms of the head and neck; melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancer; radiochemotherapy; radiotherapy-related toxicities
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Even with the refinement of surgical techniques, and the introduction of new systemic agents and treatment concepts, radiotherapy remains an indispensable part of the therapeutic armamentarium in head and neck cancer. Thus, the purpose of this Special Issue is to present the novelties and new directions in the field of radiotherapy for head and neck cancer that are already in use or will potentially play an important role in the future. We welcome original research articles or comprehensive review articles that focus on the possibilities of modulation of radiotherapy intensity or its toxicity, new therapeutic combinations, modifications of the tumor microenvironment, technological innovations, and the potential role of artificial intelligence in radiotherapy to achieve better therapeutic results. Hopefully, such a collection of studies will contribute to a clearer picture of what our expectations should be from radiotherapy in head and neck cancer now and in the future.

Prof. Dr. Primož Strojan
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Cancers is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • radiotherapy
  • head and neck cancer
  • future prospects
  • technology
  • toxicity
  • tumor microenvironment
  • artificial intelligence

Published Papers (1 paper)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

15 pages, 992 KiB  
Article
Dose Escalation of Oropharyngeal Cancer: Long-Time Follow-Up and Side Effects
by Anna Embring, Eva Onjukka, Claes Mercke, Ingmar Lax, Anders Berglund and Signe Friesland
Cancers 2023, 15(9), 2580; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers15092580 - 30 Apr 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1431
Abstract
Previous studies on dose-escalated radiotherapy in head and neck cancer have shown mixed results, and it is not established which patients would benefit from dose escalation. Further, while dose escalation does not appear to increase late toxicity, this needs to be confirmed with [...] Read more.
Previous studies on dose-escalated radiotherapy in head and neck cancer have shown mixed results, and it is not established which patients would benefit from dose escalation. Further, while dose escalation does not appear to increase late toxicity, this needs to be confirmed with longer follow-up. In this study, we analysed treatment outcome and toxicity in 215 patients with oropharyngeal cancer treated with dose-escalated radiotherapy (>72 Gy, EQD2, α/β = 10 Gy, boost by brachytherapy or simultaneous integrated boost) and a matched cohort of 215 patients treated with standard dose external-beam radiotherapy (68 Gy) between 2011 and 2018 at our institution. The 5-year overall survival (OS) was 77.8% (72.4–83.6) and 73.7% (67.8–80.1) in the dose-escalated and standard dose group, respectively (p = 0.24). Median follow-up was 78.1 (49.2–98.4) and 60.2 (38.9–89.4) months in the dose-escalated and standard dose groups, respectively. Grade ≥3 osteoradionecrosis (ORN) and late dysphagia were more common in the dose-escalated group compared to the standard dose group, with 19 (8.8%) vs. 4 (1.9%) patients developing grade ≥3 ORN (p = 0.001), and 39 (18.1%) vs. 21 (9.8%) patients developing grade ≥3 dysphagia (p = 0.01). No predictive factors to help select patients for dose-escalated radiotherapy were found. However, the remarkably good OS in the dose-escalated cohort, despite a predominance of advanced tumour stages, encourages further attempts to identify such factors. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Challenges of Radiotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

Back to TopTop