Treatment for Locoregionally Recurrent Head and Neck Cancers

Abstract

The locoregional recurrence rate after treatment of head and neck cancer (HNC) is known tobe about 40%, and recurrence of cancer is the major factor directly related to the survival ofpatients. Recurrent HNC has different biological characteristics and tumor microenvironmentfrom those of index cancer. And it subsequently exhibits pro-tumoral and treatment-resistanttraits, which leads to difficulties in selecting salvage treatments and followed by dismal prognosis. Furthermore, since which salvage treatment can be selected and what the result of itwill be determined by the prior treatment, there should be careful consideration in the initialtherapeutic strategy. In this review, currently used treatment methods and results for locoregionallyrecurrent HNC are summarized, and considerations for each treatment based on theclinical and biomolecular characteristics of recurrent HNC are discussed. In addition, this reviewcontains introductions of new therapeutic strategies including recent clinical trials and aperspective on the future direction for treatment of locoregionally recurrent HNC.