Head & Neck Cancers

Studies have explored integration of chemotherapy, radiation therapy and surgery, with the suggestion that modern technologies may be changing the treatment landscape with better outcomes in esophageal cancer.

New research suggests that there may be five distinct subgroups of head and neck cancer in which specific genetic profiles may be utilized to guide treatment decisions in patients.

Notch-targeted agents that were initially intended for the treatment of Alzheimer disease are now being examined for their possible anticancer activity.

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.

Ezra Cohen, MD, from the University of Chicago Medical Center, discusses the impact of cabozantinib's dose size on tolerability.

Rebecca S. Sippel, MD, from University of Wisconsin, explains the need for added screening for those at high-risk of developing thyroid cancer.

Ezra E.W. Cohen, MD, from the University of Chicago Medical Center, on the pharmacokinetics and efficacy of cabozantinib for medullary thyroid cancer.

Dr. Eric Sherman, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, on the optimal sequencing of cabozantinib and vandetanib for patients with medullary thyroid cancer.

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

Photos from the 82nd Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association held in Quebec City, Canada, on September 19-23, 2012.

Rebecca S. Sippel, MD, from the University of Wisconsin, discusses the importance of the initial surgery for patients with medullary thyroid cancer on outcomes.

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.

Dr. Bryan Haugen, from University of Colorado School of Medicine, Describes the 82nd Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association.

Dr. Yuri Nikiforov, from the University of Pittsburgh, on Molecular Testing to Diagnose Cancerous Thyroid Nodules.

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.