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Should Patients with HPV-Positive or Negative Tumors be Treated Differently?

  • Head and Neck Cancers (E Hanna, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

The striking rise in the incidence of HPV-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas and their improved prognosis compared to classical oropharyngeal cancer raises the question as to whether this subset of patients could benefit from less aggressive treatment without compromising efficacy. To achieve that goal, it is critically important to advance our understanding of the behavior of HPV-positive tumors. It is necessary to identify relevant clinical risk factors and to refine the current staging system. Several clinical trials studying various deintensification strategies are currently underway. This review presents some of the most valuable evidence in this regard in an attempt to encourage further exploration of risk stratification and risk-based therapy for patients with oropharyngeal cancer.

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Conflict of Interest

Mónica Palop George declares that she has no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Medway Maritime Hospital, NHS Foundation Trust, Gillingham, UK

    Monica George

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  1. Monica George
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Correspondence to Monica George.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Head and Neck Cancers

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George, M. Should Patients with HPV-Positive or Negative Tumors be Treated Differently?. Curr Oncol Rep 16, 384 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-014-0384-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11912-014-0384-2

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