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Cancers
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Radiotherapy for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
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Radiotherapy for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2024 | Viewed by 3168

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Cesare Guida

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Guest Editor
Unit of Radiation Oncology, Ospedale del Mare, ASL Napoli 1 Centro, 80147 Naples, Italy
Interests: head and neck squamous cell carcinoma; radiotherapy
Ida D'Onofrio

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Guest Editor Assistant
Unit of Radiation Oncology, Ospedale del Mare, ASL Napoli 1 Centro, 80147 Naples, Italy
Interests: head and neck cancer radiotherapy; cancer treatment in elderly; cancer and nutrition; radiomic; artificial intelligenge in head and neck cancer

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Head and neck cancer comprises 4% of malignancies and is responsible for over 650,000 cases and 330,000 deaths globally. A team of medical professionals, including oncologists, radiologists, and surgical oncologists, work together to manage these conditions. Treatment options vary based on factors such as cancer type and stage, patient preferences, and potential side effects.

Radiation therapy is a key treatment for head and neck cancer, which can occur in various sites in the head and neck. Radiotherapy can be used alone or with other treatments, such as surgery and chemotherapy, to destroy cancer cells and reduce symptoms. Benefits of radiotherapy include preserving organ function, controlling pain, and being effective for patients unable to undergo surgery, although there can be side effects such as a dry mouth and skin irritation, which can be managed with supportive care.  The use of AI in head and neck cancer radiotherapic treatment has shown promising results in optimizing and standardizing patient workflow. AI algorithms can help identify patterns and predict oncological and toxicity outcomes, leading to better clinical decision-making.

Chemoradiotherapy is the currently accepted treatment for locally advanced head and neck cancer, with the concomitant approach showing an increase in curability. HPV infection, alcohol, and tobacco use are recognized risk factors for head and neck cancers. HPV-related cancers tend to have a more favorable prognosis, resulting in intense treatments that may be unnecessary. Nevertheless, recent developments in radiotherapy, particularly intensity-modulated radiotherapy, molecular imaging-guided radiotherapy, adaptive radiotherapy, and proton therapy, can reduce the long-term toxicity of radiation therapy. Lastly, the immune system plays a vital role in fighting these cancers, and PD-1 blockade treatment has shown promising results for recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancers. In this Special Issue, we invite research papers, reviews, cancer biomarkers, and professional opinions that discuss the topic of locally advanced head and neck cancers.

Dr. Cesare Guida
Guest Editor

Ida D'Onofrio
Guest Editor Assistant

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

  • head and neck squamous cell carcinoma
  • radiotherapy
  • biomarker
  • chemoradiotherapy
  • head and neck cancers

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

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17 pages, 2942 KiB  
Article
Development and Validation of Prognostic Models Using Radiomic Features from Pre-Treatment Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Images in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma (HNSCC) Patients
by Mahima Merin Philip, Jessica Watts, Fergus McKiddie, Andy Welch and Mintu Nath
Cancers 2024, 16(12), 2195; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16122195 - 11 Jun 2024
Viewed by 604
Abstract
High-dimensional radiomics features derived from pre-treatment positron emission tomography (PET) images offer prognostic insights for patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Using 124 PET radiomics features and clinical variables (age, sex, stage of cancer, site of cancer) from a cohort [...] Read more.
High-dimensional radiomics features derived from pre-treatment positron emission tomography (PET) images offer prognostic insights for patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Using 124 PET radiomics features and clinical variables (age, sex, stage of cancer, site of cancer) from a cohort of 232 patients, we evaluated four survival models—penalized Cox model, random forest, gradient boosted model and support vector machine—to predict all-cause mortality (ACM), locoregional recurrence/residual disease (LR) and distant metastasis (DM) probability during 36, 24 and 24 months of follow-up, respectively. We developed models with five-fold cross-validation, selected the best-performing model for each outcome based on the concordance index (C-statistic) and the integrated Brier score (IBS) and validated them in an independent cohort of 102 patients. The penalized Cox model demonstrated better performance for ACM (C-statistic = 0.70, IBS = 0.12) and DM (C-statistic = 0.70, IBS = 0.08) while the random forest model displayed better performance for LR (C-statistic = 0.76, IBS = 0.07). We conclude that the ML-based prognostic model can aid clinicians in quantifying prognosis and determining effective treatment strategies, thereby improving favorable outcomes in HNSCC patients. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Radiotherapy for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma)
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Review

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19 pages, 1742 KiB  
Review
Ultrasound Combination to Improve the Efficacy of Current Boron Neutron Capture Therapy for Head and Neck Cancer
by Yoshiaki Yura, Yusei Fujita and Masakazu Hamada
Cancers 2024, 16(15), 2770; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16152770 - 5 Aug 2024
Viewed by 435
Abstract
Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is radiotherapy in which a nuclear reaction between boron-10 (10B) in tumor cells and neutrons produces alpha particles and recoiling 7Li nuclei with an extremely short range, leading to the destruction of the tumor cells. [...] Read more.
Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is radiotherapy in which a nuclear reaction between boron-10 (10B) in tumor cells and neutrons produces alpha particles and recoiling 7Li nuclei with an extremely short range, leading to the destruction of the tumor cells. Although the neutron source has traditionally been a nuclear reactor, accelerators to generate neutron beams have been developed and commercialized. Therefore, this treatment will become more widespread. Recurrent head and neck cancer (HNC) close to the body surface is considered a candidate for BNCT using the boron compound boronophenylalanine (BPA) and has been found to be highly responsive to this treatment. However, some cases recur early after the completion of the treatment, which needs to be addressed. Ultrasound is a highly safe diagnostic method. Ultrasound with microbubbles is expected to promote the uptake of BPA into tumor cells. Ultrasound also has the ability to improve the sensitivity of tumor cells to radiotherapy. In addition, high-intensity focused ultrasound may improve the efficacy of BNCT via its thermal and mechanical effects. This review is not systematic but outlines the current status of BPA-based BNCT and proposes plans to reduce the recurrence rate of HNC after BNCT in combination with ultrasound. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Radiotherapy for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma)
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Other

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20 pages, 873 KiB  
Systematic Review
MRI for Differentiation between HPV-Positive and HPV-Negative Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review
by Linda L. Chen, Iris Lauwers, Gerda Verduijn, Marielle Philippens, Renske Gahrmann, Marta E. Capala and Steven Petit
Cancers 2024, 16(11), 2105; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16112105 - 31 May 2024
Viewed by 557
Abstract
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is an important risk factor for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). HPV-positive (HPV+) cases are associated with a different pathophysiology, microstructure, and prognosis compared to HPV-negative (HPV−) cases. This review aimed to investigate the potential of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) [...] Read more.
Human papillomavirus (HPV) is an important risk factor for oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). HPV-positive (HPV+) cases are associated with a different pathophysiology, microstructure, and prognosis compared to HPV-negative (HPV−) cases. This review aimed to investigate the potential of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to discriminate between HPV+ and HPV− tumours and predict HPV status in OPSCC patients. A systematic literature search was performed on 15 December 2022 on EMBASE, MEDLINE ALL, Web of Science, and Cochrane according to PRISMA guidelines. Twenty-eight studies (n = 2634 patients) were included. Five, nineteen, and seven studies investigated structural MRI (e.g., T1, T2-weighted), diffusion-weighted MRI, and other sequences, respectively. Three out of four studies found that HPV+ tumours were significantly smaller in size, and their lymph node metastases were more cystic in structure than HPV− ones. Eleven out of thirteen studies found that the mean apparent diffusion coefficient was significantly higher in HPV− than HPV+ primary tumours. Other sequences need further investigation. Fourteen studies used MRI to predict HPV status using clinical, radiological, and radiomics features. The reported areas under the curve (AUC) values ranged between 0.697 and 0.944. MRI can potentially be used to find differences between HPV+ and HPV− OPSCC patients and predict HPV status with reasonable accuracy. Larger studies with external model validation using independent datasets are needed before clinical implementation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Radiotherapy for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma)
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17 pages, 2681 KiB  
Systematic Review
A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of 29 Studies Predicting Diagnostic Accuracy of CT, MRI, PET, and USG in Detecting Extracapsular Spread in Head and Neck Cancers
by Manish Mair, Hitesh Singhavi, Ameya Pai, Mariya Khan, Peter Conboy, Oladejo Olaleye, Rami Salha, Phil Ameerally, Ram Vaidhyanath and Pankaj Chaturvedi
Cancers 2024, 16(8), 1457; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers16081457 - 10 Apr 2024
Viewed by 1023
Abstract
Background: Extracapsular spread (ECS) is the extension of cancer cells beyond the lymph node capsule and is a significant prognostic factor in head and neck cancers. This meta-analysis compared the diagnostic accuracy of CT, MRI, PET, and USG in detecting ECS in head [...] Read more.
Background: Extracapsular spread (ECS) is the extension of cancer cells beyond the lymph node capsule and is a significant prognostic factor in head and neck cancers. This meta-analysis compared the diagnostic accuracy of CT, MRI, PET, and USG in detecting ECS in head and neck cancers. Methodology: The authors conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies that compared the diagnostic accuracy of CT, MRI, PET, and USG in detecting ECS in head and neck cancers. They included studies that were published between 1990 and December 2023 and that used histopathology as the reference standard for ECS. Results: The pooled sensitivity and specificity of CT scan were 0.63 (95% CI = 0.53–0.73) and 0.85 (95% CI = 0.74–0.91), respectively. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of MRI were 0.83 (95% CI = 0.71–0.90) and 0.85 (95% CI = 0.73–0.92), respectively. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of PET were 0.80 (95% CI = 0.74–0.85) and 0.93 (95% CI = 0.92–0.94), respectively. The pooled sensitivity and specificity of USG were 0.80 (95% CI = 0.68–0.88) and 0.84 (95% CI = 0.74–0.91), respectively. MRI had significantly higher sensitivity than CT scan (p-0.05). The specificity of CT and MRI was not significantly different (p-0.99). PET scan had the highest specificity among all imaging modalities. Conclusion: MRI is the most accurate imaging modality for detecting ECS in head and neck cancers. CT scan is a reasonable alternative, but PET scan may be considered when high specificity is required. USG may not add any further benefit in detecting ECS. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Radiotherapy for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma)
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