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Standardization for oncologic head and neck surgery

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Abstract

The inherent variability in performing specific surgical procedures for head and neck cancer remains a barrier for accurately assessing treatment outcomes, particularly in clinical trials. While non-surgical modalities for cancer therapeutics have evolved to become far more uniform, there remains the challenge to standardize surgery. The purpose of this review is to identify the barriers in achieving uniformity and to highlight efforts by surgical groups to standardize selected operations and nomenclature. While further improvements in standardization will remain a challenge, we must encourage surgical groups to focus on strategies that provide such a level.

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Abbreviations

RT:

Radiotherapy

CT:

Chemotherapy

MDT:

Multidisciplinary team

HNSCC:

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Galilee Medical Center, Affiliated with Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, Bar-Ilan University, Safed, Israel

    Ohad Ronen

  2. Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Southern Illinois University Medical School, Springfield, IL, USA

    K. Thomas Robbins

  3. Department of Head and Neck Surgical Oncology, University Medical Center Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Remco de Bree

  4. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Institute of Phoniatry/Pedaudiology, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Germany

    Orlando Guntinas-Lichius

  5. Head and Neck Oncology Service, Gustave Roussy, Villejuif, France

    Dana M. Hartl

  6. Department of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, Faculty of Medicine and Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan

    Akihiro Homma

  7. Head and Neck Surgery and Oncology Unit, A.R.M. Center for Advanced Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, Assuta Medical Center, Tel Aviv, Israel

    Avi Khafif

  8. Department of Otorhinolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, A.C. Camargo Cancer Center, São Paulo, Brazil

    Luiz P. Kowalski

  9. Department of Head and Neck Surgery, University of São Paulo Medical School, São Paulo, Brazil

    Luiz P. Kowalski

  10. Department of Otolaryngology, Hospital Universitario Central de Asturias-ISPA, Oviedo, Spain

    Fernando López & Juan P. Rodrigo

  11. University of Oviedo-IUOPA, Oviedo, Spain

    Fernando López & Juan P. Rodrigo

  12. Head and Neck Cancer Unit, CIBERONC, Madrid, Spain

    Fernando López & Juan P. Rodrigo

  13. Department of Otorhinolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland

    Antti A. Mäkitie

  14. Department of Clinical Oncology, LKS Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Wai Tong Ng

  15. University of Udine School of Medicine, Udine, Italy

    Alessandra Rinaldo

  16. Department of Surgery, School of Medicine, Universidad de Antioquia/Hospital Universitario San Vicente Fundación, Medellín, Colombia

    Alvaro Sanabria

  17. CEXCA Centro de Excelencia en Enfermedades de Cabeza Y Cuello, Medellín, Colombia

    Alvaro Sanabria

  18. Coordinator of the International Head and Neck Scientific Group, Padua, Italy

    Alfio Ferlito

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  1. Ohad Ronen
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  2. K. Thomas Robbins
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  3. Remco de Bree
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  8. Luiz P. Kowalski
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Contributions

OR: conceived the idea of the paper, OR and KTR: performed literature research, and drafted the manuscript; all authors: provided scientific revision of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ohad Ronen.

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Ronen, O., Robbins, K.T., de Bree, R. et al. Standardization for oncologic head and neck surgery. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 278, 4663–4669 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-021-06867-6

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