Head & Neck Cancers

The highly selective RET inhibitor selpercatinib (formally LOXO-292) demonstrated robust objective response rates for patients with RET-mutant medullary thyroid cancer and in those with other RET fusion-positive thyroid cancer.

The question of what the accepted therapeutic strategies for de-intensification in low-risk, HPV-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma are will be debated in an upcoming discussion.

In thyroid cancer, molecular diagnostic tests enable oncologists to evaluate thyroid nodules with atypical, suspicious, or indeterminate fine-needle aspiration cytology to determine the best course of treatment based on cytopathological result.

Patients with differentiated thyroid cancer who were felt to not have a choice in receiving radioactive iodine treatment reportedly had lower satisfaction with the treatment decision, suggesting a need for increased shared decision making between physicians and patients.

Among patients with medullary thyroid cancer, PD-L1 positive status is linked to more aggressive clinicopathological features and predictive of structural and biochemical recurrences.

Nabil F. Saba, MD, FACP, director, Head and Neck Medical Oncology Program, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, professor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Department of Otolaryngology, Emory University School of Medicine, discusses investigational deintensification approaches in HPV-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

Nabil F. Saba, MD, FACP, director, Head and Neck Medical Oncology Program, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, professor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Department of Otolaryngology, Emory University School of Medicine, discusses treatment deintensification for patients with HPV-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

Danny Rischin, MD, director, Division of Cancer Medicine, head, Department of Medical Oncology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia, discusses the phase III KEYNOTE-048 trial, which examines pembrolizumab or pembrolizumab plus chemotherapy versus EXTREME as first-line therapy for patients with recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Nabil F. Saba, MD, FACP, discussed the role of general practitioners in maintaining the health of their patients with cancer and how to better diagnosis select types of head and neck cancer.

The FDA has approved pembrolizumab (Keytruda) for the first-line treatment of patients with metastatic or unresectable recurrent head and neck squamous cell carcinoma as monotherapy whose tumors express PD-L1 (composite positive score [CPS] ≥1) and also in combination with platinum and fluorouracil (FU) for this patient population, irrespective of PD-L1 expression.

Rozita Yarmand, PhD, assistant professor, Department of Endocrine Neoplasia and Hormonal Disorders-Research, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses unmet needs in medullary thyroid cancer.