Head & Neck Cancers

Marshall Posner, MD, from Mount Sinai Medical Center, discusses the factors that improve the prognosis for patients with HPV-positive head and neck cancer when compared to patients who are HPV-negative.

A phase III trial of sorafenib in patients with locally advanced or metastatic RAI-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer met its primary endpoint of a statistically significant improvement in PFS.

Scientists now know a lot more about the genetic landscape of head and neck cancer and hope that eventually this knowledge will lead the way to new therapies.

Low-dose radioiodine ablation with thyrotropin alfa is as effective as high-dose radioiodine ablation in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer and is safer.

The FDA approved cabozantinib, a multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor, for the treatment of metastatic medullary thyroid cancer.

Despite the fact that pazopanib and cabozantinib are not yet approved, researchers are already trying to determine the best way to integrate them into existing treatment regimens.

Steven I. Sherman, MD, from MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses the clinical interest in MEK inhibitors for thyroid cancer and a broad range of other tumors that signal through the MAP kinase pathway.

Cabozantinib significantly prolonged progression-free survival in medullary thyroid cancer compared with placebo among patients with radiographically confirmed progressive disease at study onset.

The application of molecular markers is already significantly improving the diagnosis of thyroid cancer and broader application could help prevent unnecessary surgeries to confirm the diagnosis.

Four histopathologic features of papillary microcarcinoma help predict how aggressive the tumor will be and subsequently how aggressive treatment must be to prevent its spread.

A blanket approach to the use of radioactive iodine may not be necessary in many patients with papillary thyroid cancer provided they undergo expert total thyroidectomy first.

The availability of molecular agents that target oncogenic signaling pathways now offers the possibility of achieving disease stabilization in a proportion of patients with metastatic medullary thyroid cancer.

The initial surgical procedure performed for the management of medullary thyroid cancer is the best chance surgeons have for a cure.

Canadian researchers are investigating standard fractionation radiotherapy with concurrent high-dose cisplatin versus accelerated fractionation radiotherapy with panitumumab in locally SCCHN.

The ability of cabozantinib to inhibit the RET pathway contributed to the pivotal clinical trial findings demonstrating that the novel oral agent significantly improved PFS in patients with advanced MTC.

Patients (and even clinicians) often don't know which facilities are considered leaders in the treatment of various types of cancer, and a bit of detective work is generally required.

The tyrosine kinase inhibitor cabozantinib met its primary endpoint of progression-free survival in patients with advanced medullary thyroid cancer.

Dr. Robert Kirkman, the CEO of Oncothyreon, on the Combination of PX-866 and Docetaxel

Dr. Ezra Cohen, from the University of Chicago, Discusses the Cabozantinib (XL184) EXAM Trial

Dr. Paul W. Ladenson, from Johns Hopkins Medicine, on Diagnosis of Thyroid Nodules

The use of PET/CT scans in the detection of early recurrence in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck remains an open question, despite recent research suggesting beneficial results.

The Trials in Progress section supplies summaries of ongoing research in a broad range of cancer types.

US investigators have found that suicide rates in recent years have significantly increased in patients with oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer.

Erin McMenamin, MSN, from the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, on HPV-related Head & Neck Cancer Prognosis

Treatment of head and neck cancer often leaves patients with aftereffects that are bothersome at the very least and life-altering at their worst.