Head & Neck Cancers

Substantial evidence exists that a subset of squamous cell cancers of the head and neck display phenotypic changes that predict activity for immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Sudipto Mukherjee, MD, associate staff, Department of Hematology and Oncology, Cleveland Clinic, discusses a study examining the association between radioactive iodine treatment of thyroid cancer and the risk for developing myelodysplastic syndromes.

Barbara A. Burtness, MD, professor of Medicine (Medical Oncology), clinical research program leader, Head and Neck Cancers Program, co-director, Developmental Therapeutics Research Program, Yale Cancer Center, discusses emerging immunotherapies and ongoing clinical trials in head and neck cancer.

Marcia Brose, MD, PhD, associate professor of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses the lenvatinib trial.

Yael Cohen, MD, vice president of Clinical Development at VBL Therapeutics Pharmaceuticals, discusses VB-111, a highly targeted anti-angiogenic agent that is being investigated in several tumor types.

John Copland, PhD, faculty member in the department of cancer biology, Mayo Clinic, explains his research on patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models in anaplastic thyroid cancer.

Abnormal thyroid function tests were reported in up to 15% of patients treated with the PD-1 inhibitor pembrolizumab.

The recent American Thyroid Association guidelines to abstain from cytological evaluation by biopsy for patients with thyroid cancer on the basis of having thyroid nodules ≤1 cm is not advisable.

Pazopanib demonstrated significant clinical activity for patients with RAI-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer; however, a predictive biomarker for the therapy could not be uncovered.

Researchers have identified molecular markers in medullary thyroid cancer that were associated with response to vandetanib and the development of metastases.

Stephen Huang, MD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the challenges of pediatric thyroid cancer.

Marcia Brose, MD, PhD, associate professor of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, discusses survival benefit and possible combination strategies with the lenvatinib in patients with radioactive iodine refractory differentiated thyroid cancer.

Pablo Valderrabano, MD, Clinical Research Fellow at Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses molecular markers in thyroid nodules and their connection to cancer incidence.

The oral multikinase inhibitor cabozantinib showed promise as a second- or third-line therapy in patients with advanced radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer.

The progression-free survival benefit with lenvatinib in radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer was observed across common sites of metastasis.

A large survey of endocrinologists found wide variation in management strategies for thyroid nodules that were frequently misaligned with current guidelines, particularly for biopsies by fine-needle aspiration.

Umamaheswar Duvvuri, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology (ENT) at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, talks about potential genetic signatures for locally advanced, well differentiated thyroid cancers.

Manisha Shah, MD, Professor of Oncology at Ohio State University Medical Center, College of Medicine discusses cabozantinib in patients with radioiodine- refractory differentiated thyroid cancer.

The ipsilateral parotidean nodes may be at risk of metastatic involvement when bulky ipsilateral level II metastases and multilevel nodal disease are co-existent, possibly due to retrograde lymphatic drainage.

Brett Miles, MD, DDS, discusses the potential of ADXS11-001 in HPV-associated head and neck cancer and other emerging therapies and treatment strategies.

A retrospective experience suggests that early glottic cancer treated with HRT results in a higher incidence of acute toxicity without improved control compared to CRT delivered in an appropriate OTT.

Hisham Mehanna, MBChB, PhD, Chair, Head and Neck Surgery, Director, Institute of Head and Neck Studies and Education at University of Birmingham, discusses differences in the quality of life (QoL) and functional outcomes of treatment between HPV-positive and HPV-negative head and neck squamous cell cancer patients (HNSCC).

More than a fifth of patients with previously treated metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma showed a measurable response when treated with the immune checkpoint inhibitor pembrolizumab.

Loren K. Mell, MD, chief, Head and Neck Malignancy Service, associate professor, University of California, San Diego, discusses toxicities associated with GL-ONC1 for the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer.

Eighteen new research grants, totaling more than $19 million, have been awarded by the FDA for product development in rare diseases such as HPV-related head and neck cancer and recurrent glioblastoma.