NCCN Guidelines® Insights: Head and Neck Cancers, Version 1.2022.

The NCCN Guidelines for Head and Neck Cancers address tumors arising in the oral cavity (including mucosal lip), pharynx, larynx, and paranasal sinuses. Occult primary cancer, salivary gland cancer, and mucosal melanoma (MM) are also addressed. The specific site of disease, stage, and pathologic findings guide treatment (eg, the appropriate surgical procedure, radiation targets, dose and fractionation of radiation, indications for systemic therapy). The NCCN Head and Neck Cancers Panel meets at least annually to review comments from reviewers within their institutions, examine relevant new data from publications and abstracts, and reevaluate and update their recommendations. These NCCN Guidelines Insights summarize the panel's most recent recommendations regarding management of HPV-positive oropharynx cancer and ongoing research in this area.

Chronic Electroconvulsive Therapy May Induce Calvarial Hyperemia and Marrow Replacement.

ABSTRACT: Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a treatment option for a number of psychiatric disorders, including refractory major depression and obsessive compulsive disorder. There are no known structural sequelae of ECT. Here we present a patient with severe refractory obsessive compulsive disorder and major depression treated over 2 years with ECT every 2 weeks. Planning magnetic resonance imaging intended for a potential procedural intervention for her psychiatric disease incidentally demonstrated a new area of increased enhancement and loss of marrow signal within the right frontal bone. Imaging findings were suggestive of underlying bone marrow or bone changes, although there was no evidence of bone destruction on bone-windowed computed tomography (CT) and there was no uptake on nuclear bone scan. The CT chest/abdomen/pelvis were also reassuring that this did not represent metastatic disease, and findings were unchanged on repeat magnetic resonance imaging 4 months later. Thus, this area corresponded to the site directly underlying the unilateral ECT electrode placement, suggestive of never-before described ECT-induced hyperemia. We report for the first time that frequent, chronic ECT may induce asymptomatic skull bone marrow hyperemia with radiologic findings. This appears to be a direct consequence of electrical current leading to chronic inflammatory and edematous marrow replacement. Electroconvulsive therapy should be added to the neuroradiological differential diagnosis of calvarial enhancement and loss of marrow signal. Psychiatrists should counsel patients on the possibility of this rare radiological finding, which may be confused for other processes.

Head and Neck Cancers, Version 2.2020, NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology.

Treatment is complex for patients with head and neck (H&N) cancers with specific site of disease, stage, and pathologic findings guiding treatment decision-making. Treatment planning for H&N cancers involves a multidisciplinary team of experts. This article describes supportive care recommendations in the NCCN Guidelines for Head and Neck Cancers, as well as the rationale supporting a new section on imaging recommendations for patients with H&N cancers. This article also describes updates to treatment recommendations for patients with very advanced H&N cancers and salivary gland tumors, specifically systemic therapy recommendations.

Outcomes of stereotactic radiosurgery and hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy for refractory Cushing's disease.

PURPOSE: Hypofractionated stereotactic radiotherapy (HSRT) for refractory Cushing's disease may offer a condensed treatment schedule for patients with large tumors abutting the optic chiasm unsuitable for stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). To-date only four patients have been treated by HSRT in the published literature. We investigated the feasibility, toxicity, and efficacy of HSRT compared to SRS. METHODS: After approval, we retrospectively evaluated patients treated at our institution for refractory Cushing's disease with SRS or HSRT. Study outcomes included biochemical control, time to biochemical control, local control, and late complications. Binary logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards regression evaluated predictors of outcomes. RESULTS: Patients treated with SRS (n = 9) and HSRT (n = 9) were enrolled with median follow-up of 3.4 years. Clinicopathologic details were balanced between the cohorts. Local control was 100% in both cohorts. Time to biochemical control was 6.6. and 9.5 months in the SRS and HSRT cohorts, respectively (p = 0.6258). Two patients in each cohort required salvage bilateral adrenalectomy. Late complications including secondary malignancy, radionecrosis, cranial nerve neuropathy, and optic pathway injury were minimal for either cohort. CONCLUSIONS: HSRT is an appropriate treatment approach for refractory Cushing's disease, particularly for patients with large tumors abutting the optic apparatus. Prospective studies are needed to validate these findings and identify factors suggesting optimal fractionation approaches.

NCCN Guidelines Insights: Head and Neck Cancers, Version 1.2018.

The NCCN Guidelines for Head and Neck (H&N) Cancers provide treatment recommendations for cancers of the lip, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, ethmoid and maxillary sinuses, and salivary glands. Recommendations are also provided for occult primary of the H&N, and separate algorithms have been developed by the panel for very advanced H&N cancers. These NCCN Guidelines Insights summarize the panel's discussion and most recent recommendations regarding evaluation and treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

A simple technique to improve calculated skin dose accuracy in a commercial treatment planning system.

Radiation dermatitis during radiotherapy is correlated with skin dose and is a common clinical problem for head and neck and thoracic cancer patients. Therefore, accurate prediction of skin dose during treatment planning is clinically important. The objective of this study is to evaluate the accuracy of skin dose calculated by a commercial treatment planning system (TPS). We evaluated the accuracy of skin dose calculations by the anisotropic analytical algorithm (AAA) implemented in Varian Eclipse (V.11) system. Skin dose is calculated as mean dose to a contoured structure of 0.5 cm thickness from the surface. The EGSnrc Monte Carlo (MC) simulations are utilized for the evaluation. The 6, 10 and 15 MV photon beams investigated are from a Varian TrueBeam linear accelerator. The accuracy of the MC dose calculations was validated by phantom measurements with optically stimulated luminescence detectors. The calculation accuracy of patient skin doses is studied by using CT based radiotherapy treatment plans including 3D conformal, static gantry IMRT, and VMAT treatment techniques. Results show the Varian Eclipse system underestimates skin doses by up to 14% of prescription dose for the patients studied when external body contour starts at the patient's skin. The external body contour is used in a treatment planning system to calculate dose distributions. The calculation accuracy of skin dose with Eclipse can be considerably improved to within 4% of target dose by extending the external body contour by 1 to 2 cm from the patient's skin. Dose delivered to deeper target volumes or organs at risk are not affected. Although Eclipse treatment planning system has its limitations in predicting patient skin dose, this study shows the calculation accuracy can be considerably improved to an acceptable level by extending the external body contour without affecting the dose calculation accuracy to the treatment target and internal organs at risk. This is achieved by moving the calculation entry point away from the skin.

NCCN Guidelines Insights: Head and Neck Cancers, Version 2.2017.

The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Head and Neck Cancers provide treatment recommendations for cancers of the lip, oral cavity, pharynx, larynx, ethmoid and maxillary sinuses, and salivary glands. Recommendations are also provided for occult primary of the head and neck (H&N), and separate algorithms have been developed by the panel for very advanced H&N cancers. These NCCN Guidelines Insights summarize the panel's discussion and most recent recommendations regarding the increase in human papillomavirus-associated oropharyngeal cancer and the availability of immunotherapy agents for treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic H&N cancer.

A phase I trial of concurrent sorafenib and stereotactic radiosurgery for patients with brain metastases.

We hypothesized that sorafenib (BAY 43-9006), an oral multi-kinase inhibitor, used in combination with SRS will improve overall intracranial control. This Phase I study assesses the safety, tolerability, and maximal tolerated dose of sorafenib administered with SRS to treat 1-4 brain metastases. This was an open label phase I dose escalation study with an expansion cohort. Eligible adults had 1-4 brain metastases from solid malignancies. Sorafenib was begun 5-7 days prior to SRS and continued for 14 days thereafter. Dose escalation of sorafenib was conducted via a "3 + 3" dose escalation design. Dose limiting toxicities (DLT) were determined 1 month after SRS and defined as ≥grade 3 neurologic toxicities. Twenty-three patients were enrolled. There were no DLTs at dose level 1 (400 mg per day) or dose level 2 (400 mg twice per day). An expansion cohort of 17 patients was treated at dose level 2. There were six grade 3 toxicities: hypertension (n = 2), rash (n = 1), lymphopenia (n = 1), hypokalemia (n = 1), fatigue (n = 1) and hand-foot syndrome (n = 1). All of these were attributable to sorafenib and not to the combination with SRS. The median time to CNS progression was 10 months, 1 year CNS progression-free survival was 46%, the median overall survival was 11.6 months and the 1 year overall survival was 46%. The use of sorafenib concurrent with SRS for the treatment of 1-4 brain metastases is safe and well tolerated at 400 mg twice a day. Our recommended phase II dose of concurrent sorafenib with SRS would be 400 mg twice daily.

Establishing quality indicators for neck dissection: Correlating the number of lymph nodes with oncologic outcomes (NRG Oncology RTOG 9501 and RTOG 0234).

BACKGROUND: Prospective quality metrics for neck dissection have not been established for patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. The purpose of this study was to investigate the association between lymph node counts from neck dissection, local-regional recurrence, and overall survival. METHODS: The number of lymph nodes counted from neck dissection in patients treated in 2 NRG Oncology trials (Radiation Therapy Oncology Group [RTOG] 9501 and RTOG 0234) was evaluated for its prognostic impact on overall survival with a multivariate Cox model adjusted for demographic, tumor, and lymph node data and stratified by the postoperative treatment group. RESULTS: Five hundred seventy-two patients were analyzed at a median follow-up of 8 years. Ninety-eight percent of the patients were pathologically N+. The median numbers of lymph nodes recorded on the left and right sides were 24 and 25, respectively. The identification of fewer than 18 nodes was associated with worse overall survival in comparison with 18 or more nodes (hazard ratio [HR], 1.38; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.09-1.74; P = .007). The difference appeared to be driven by local-regional failure (HR, 1.46; 95% CI, 1.02-2.08; P = .04) but not by distant metastases (HR, 1.08; 95% CI, 0.77-1.53; P = .65). When the analysis was limited to NRG Oncology RTOG 0234 patients, adding the p16 status to the model did not affect the HR for dissected nodes, and the effect of nodes did not differ with the p16 status. CONCLUSIONS: The removal and identification of 18 or more lymph nodes was associated with improved overall survival and lower rates of local-regional failure, and this should be further evaluated as a measure of quality in neck dissections for mucosal squamous cell carcinoma. Cancer 2016;122:3464-71. © 2016 American Cancer Society.

Initial radiographic tumor control is similar following single or multi-fractionated stereotactic radiosurgery for jugular paragangliomas.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate radiographic tumor control and treatment-related toxicity in glomus jugulare tumors treated with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective chart review. SETTING: Tertiary academic referral center. PATIENTS: Glomus jugulare tumors treated with SRS between 1998 and 2014 were identified. The data analysis only included patients with at least 18months of post-treatment follow up (FU). INTERVENTION: Patients were treated with either single fraction or fractionated SRS. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Patient demographics and tumor characteristics were assessed. Radiographic control was determined by comparing pre and post treatment MRI, and was categorized as no change, regression, or progression. RESULTS: Eighteen patients were treated with SRS, and 14 met inclusion criteria. Median age at treatment was 55years (range 35-79), and 71.4% of patients were female. 5 patients (35.7%) received single fraction SRS (dose range 15-18Gy), and 9 (64.3%) fractionated therapy (dose 3-7Gy×3-15 fractions). Median tumor volume was 3.78cm(3) (range 1.15-30.6). Median FU was 28.8months (range 18.6-56.1), with a mean of 31.7months. At their last recorded MRI, 7 patients (50%) had tumor stability, 6 (42.9%) had improvement, and 1 (7.1%) had progression. Disease improvement and progression rates in the single fraction group were 40% and 0%, and in the multiple-fraction group, 44.4% and 11.1%, respectively. There was no statistically significant difference in disease improvement (p=0.88) or progression (p=0.48) rates between groups (unpaired t-test). CONCLUSIONS: At a median follow up of 28months, both single fraction and fractionated SRS appear to have comparable radiographic tumor control outcomes and toxicity profiles.

Head and Neck Cancers, Version 1.2015.

These NCCN Guidelines Insights focus on recent updates to the 2015 NCCN Guidelines for Head and Neck (H&N) Cancers. These Insights describe the different types of particle therapy that may be used to treat H&N cancers, in contrast to traditional radiation therapy (RT) with photons (x-ray). Research is ongoing regarding the different types of particle therapy, including protons and carbon ions, with the goals of reducing the long-term side effects from RT and improving the therapeutic index. For the 2015 update, the NCCN H&N Cancers Panel agreed to delete recommendations for neutron therapy for salivary gland cancers, because of its limited availability, which has decreased over the past 2 decades; the small number of patients in the United States who currently receive this treatment; and concerns that the toxicity of neutron therapy may offset potential disease control advantages.

Head and neck cancers, Version 2.2014. Clinical practice guidelines in oncology.

This selection from the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Head and Neck Cancers focuses on glottic laryngeal cancer, which is the most common type of laryngeal cancer and has an excellent cure rate. The lymphatic drainage of the glottis is sparse, and early stage primaries rarely spread to regional nodes. Because hoarseness is an early symptom, most glottic laryngeal cancer is early stage at diagnosis. Updates to these guidelines for 2014 include revisions to "Principles of Radiation Therapy" for each site and "Principles of Surgery," and the addition of a new section on "Principles of Dental Evaluation and Management."

Head and neck cancers, version 2.2013. Featured updates to the NCCN guidelines.

These NCCN Guidelines Insights focus on nutrition and supportive care for patients with head and neck cancers. This topic was a recent addition to the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Head and Neck Cancers. The NCCN Guidelines Insights focus on major updates to the NCCN Guidelines and discuss the new updates in greater detail. The complete version of the NCCN Guidelines for Head and Neck Cancers is available on the NCCN Web site (NCCN.org).

Intensity-modulated radiation therapy with concurrent carboplatin and paclitaxel for locally advanced head and neck cancer: toxicities and efficacy.

BACKGROUND: Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) and alternative chemotherapy regimens strive to maintain efficacy while minimizing toxicity in locally advanced head and neck cancer (LAHNC) treatment. Our experience with concurrent IMRT and taxane-based chemotherapy is presented. METHODS: A retrospective review of 150 consecutive patients with LAHNC treated with IMRT and concurrent taxane-based chemotherapy with curative intent was performed. The IMRT fractionation regimen consisted of 69.3 Gy to gross disease (2.1 Gy/fraction) and 56.1 Gy to prophylactic nodal sites (1.7 Gy/fraction). Weekly paclitaxel (30 mg/m(2)) and carboplatin (area under the concentration-time curve [AUC], 1) were given concurrently to all patients, and 69% received weekly induction with paclitaxel (60 mg/m(2)) and carboplatin (AUC, 2). RESULTS: Over 90% of patients received the prescribed radiation dose. Ninety-six percent completed five or more cycles of concurrent chemotherapy, with similar tolerability for induction chemotherapy. A percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) tube was required in 80 patients, with 10 maintaining PEG use >18 months. Acute grade 4 mucositis and dermatitis developed in 2.0% and 4.0% of patients, respectively. No patient experienced nadir sepsis, grade ≥3 late xerostomia, or significant nephropathy or gastrointestinal toxicity. Median follow-up was 30 months. The 3-year locoregional control rate was 83.2% with disease-free survival and overall survival rates of 78.8% and 76.5%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Rates of acute and late toxicities were low, with excellent radiation dose delivery and impressive tumor control at 3 years, suggesting that concurrent carboplatin and paclitaxel with IMRT is a reasonable therapeutic option for the curative treatment of LAHNC.

Validity Testing of the Head and Neck Lymphedema and Fibrosis Symptom Inventory.

Background: Lack of reliable and valid tools significantly impacts early identification and timely treatment of lymphedema and fibrosis (LEF) in the head and neck cancer population. To address this need, we developed and reported a patient-reported outcome measure (Head and Neck Lymphedema and Fibrosis Symptom Inventory [HN-LEF SI]). This article reports the construct validity (convergent and divergent validity) testing of the tool. Materials and Methods: A prospective, longitudinal, instrument validation study was conducted in patients with a newly diagnosed oral cavity or oropharyngeal cancer. Participants completed the HN-LEF SI and six carefully selected self-report measures at pretreatment, end-of-treatment, and every 3 months up to 12 months after treatment. Spearman correlations were used. Results: A total of 117 patients completed the study. Patterns of correlations of the HN-LEF SI scores with the established self-report measure scores were consistent with expected convergent and divergent validity. Conclusion: Evidence from this work supports the construct validity of the HN-LEF SI.

Noninvasive Capsulotomy for Refractory Depression by Frameless Stereotactic Radiosurgery.

PURPOSE: Effective treatment options for refractory depression are needed. Recent advancements permit both precise ablative radiation and functional neurologic connectome analysis using standard magnetic resonance imaging. We combined these innovations to perform stereotactic radiosurgical capsulotomy for the treatment of medically refractory major depressive disorder and study connectome response using a novel tractography-based approach. METHODS AND MATERIALS: Patients with medically refractory depression were enrolled on a prospective pilot single-arm observational trial from 2020 to 2021 at a single academic tertiary referral center. Bilateral ablation of the anterior limb of the internal capsule was accomplished by mask-based linear accelerator stereotactic radiosurgery. Beck's Depression Inventory measured efficacy. Montreal Cognitive Assessment evaluated cognition. RESULTS: Three patients were enrolled. Depression burden was improved by 88% at 12-month follow-up and by 55% at 18-month follow-up for patient 1 and 2, respectively. Patient 1 discontinued ketamine therapy, and patient 2 discontinued electroconvulsive therapy. Patient 3 reported global improvement in symptoms and function at 3 months. All 3 patients had reduction or resolution of suicidal ideation. No patient experienced cognitive decline or neurologic toxicity, and Montreal Cognitive Assessment score, as well as subjective patient-reported evaluations of concentration and attention, were superior after treatment. Tractography confirmed intended disruption of the cortico-striatal-thalamo-cortical loop with structural reorganization in the connectome. Connectome change was consistent between patients. Observed increases in caudate and putamen connectivity and decreases in thalamic connectivity may explain improved concentration, attention, and depression. The diversity and magnitude of connectome change may correlate with degree of clinical response. CONCLUSIONS: In 3 patients with refractory depression, radiosurgical capsulotomy significantly reduced the burden of depression. Functional connectome reorganization offers neurobiological evidence to support further investigations of the role of radiosurgery in depression.

Targeting for stereotactic radiosurgical thalamotomy based on tremor treatment response.

OBJECTIVE: Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) treats severe, medically refractory essential tremor and tremor-dominant Parkinson disease. However, the optimal target for SRS treatment within the thalamic ventral intermediate nucleus (VIM) is not clearly defined. This work evaluates the precision of the physician-selected VIM target, and determines the optimal SRS target within the VIM by correlation between early responders and nonresponders. METHODS: Early responders and nonresponders were assessed retrospectively by Elements Basal Ganglia Atlas autocontouring of the VIM on the pre-SRS-treatment 1-mm slice thickness T1-weighted MRI and correlating the center of the post-SRS-treatment lesion. Using pre- and posttreatment diffusion tensor imaging, the fiber tracking package in the Elements software generated tremor-related tracts from autosegmented motor cortex, thalamus, red nucleus, and dentate nucleus. Autocontouring of the VIM was successful for all patients. RESULTS: Among 23 patients, physician-directed SRS targets had a medial-lateral target range from +2.5 mm to -2.0 mm from the VIM center. Relative to the VIM center, the SRS isocenter target was 0.7-0.9 mm lateral for 6 early responders and 0.9-1.1 mm medial for 4 nonresponders (p = 0.019), and without differences in the other dimensions: 0.2 mm posterior and 0.6 mm superior. Dose-volume histogram analyses for the VIM had no significant differences between responders and nonresponders between 20 Gy and 140 Gy, mean or maximum dose, and dose to small volumes. Tractography data was obtained for 4 patients. CONCLUSIONS: For tremor control in early responders, the Elements Basal Ganglia Atlas autocontour for the VIM provides the optimal SRS target location that is 0.7-0.9 mm lateral to the VIM center.

Noninvasive Thalamotomy for Refractory Tremor by Frameless Radiosurgery.

PURPOSE: We sought to determine whether a more widely accessible, noninvasive, frameless approach to radiosurgical thalamotomy would improve objective measures of refractory essential or parkinsonian tremor without added toxicity compared with reports of frame-based radiosurgery. METHODS AND MATERIALS: We conducted a single-arm pilot observational prospective trial of adult patients with essential or parkinsonian tremor from 2013 to 2019 and report results at 1-year follow-up. Patients were treated with frameless unilateral radiosurgical ablation of the thalamic ventral intermediate nucleus to a maximum dose of 160 Gy. Treatment response was measured by the Fahn-Tolosa-Marin (FTM) tremor rating scale and the Quality of Life in Essential Tremor or Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire obtained before treatment and at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months. RESULTS: Thirty-three patients, including 23 with essential tremor and 10 with Parkinson's disease, were enrolled. Overall treatment response rate per FTM was 83% (15 of 18) at 6 months. There was a marked improvement in tremor, with an average total FTM reduction of 21% at 3 months (from 46 to 30 points; P = .003) and 41% at 6 months (from 46 to 24 points; P = .001). At 6 months, functional decline had regressed by 54% (from 15 to 7 points; P = .001). Quality of life improved by 57% (P = .001) at 6 months in patients with essential tremor, and patients with Parkinson's disease had unchanged quality of life. At 1-year follow-up, grade 2 neurologic adverse events were observed in 6% (2 of 33) of patients without any grade ≥ 3 events. CONCLUSION: Noninvasive, frameless radiosurgical thalamotomy may be a feasible treatment for patients with refractory tremor and demonstrates short-term safety at 1-year follow-up. This pilot study provides promising preliminary descriptions of efficacy, and definitive estimates of long-term safety and benefit require further study with longer follow-up.

Refinement and Validation of the Head and Neck Lymphedema and Fibrosis Symptom Inventory.

PURPOSE: Lymphedema and fibrosis (LEF) are common yet overlooked late effects of head and neck cancer and its therapy. Lack of reliable and valid measures of head and neck LEF is a critical barrier to the timely identification and management of head and neck LEF. To fill this gap, we developed and pilot tested a 64-item patient-reported outcome measure ( Lymphedema Symptom Intensity and Distress Survey-Head and Neck, LSIDS-H&N). This article aims to report the process of further validation and refinement of the tool. METHODS AND MATERIALS: A prospective, longitudinal study was conducted, and 120 patients with oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer were recruited. Participants completed the LSIDS-H&N at pretreatment, end of treatment, and every 3 months up to 12 months after treatment. SAS PROC VARCLUS was used to generate preliminary clusters of item responses. Internal consistency of the item responses within each cluster was assessed using Cronbach's alpha. RESULTS: A total of 117 patients completed the study. The participants reported that the LSIDS-H&N was easy to understand and captured their symptoms and medical conditions. However, >50% of participants indicated that the survey was burdensome due to length. Thus, we proceeded with item reduction, and the shortened tool (33-item) was named Head and Neck Lymphedema and Fibrosis Symptom Inventory (HN-LEF Symptom Inventory). The subsequent exploration of symptom clusters identified 7 symptom domain clusters (eg, soft tissue and neurologic toxicity), all of which demonstrated good internal consistency. CONCLUSIONS: The HN-LEF Symptom Inventory has been carefully developed and refined to allow clinicians and researchers to capture LEF-associated symptom burden and function impairments. Additional rigorous psychometric testing of the tool is ongoing to further validate the strength and internal validity of this tool.

Transient Subacute Facial Nerve Dysfunction After Dual Modality Treatment of Large Vestibular Schwannomas.

OBJECTIVES: 1: Describe subacute facial nerve paralysis after salvage stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). 2: To analyze predictors of facial nerve weakness after dual modality treatment. PATIENTS: Adult patients with Vestibular Schwannoma who underwent sub-total resection (STR) followed by salvage radiation. INTERVENTIONS: Microsurgical resection of VS, stereotactic radiosurgery, intensity-modulated radiotherapy, proton radiotherapy. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Serial facial nerve function (House-Brackmann scale). RESULTS: Thirteen patients who underwent dual modality treatment for large VS were included (mean age = 43.6 years, 77% females). The mean pre-operative tumor volume was 11.7 cm3 (SD = 6.5) and the immediate mean post-operative remnant volume was 1.5 cm3 (SD = 1.4) with a mean extent of resection of 86.7% (SD = 9.5). The mean salvage-free interval was 20.8 months (SD = 13.3). All patients had excellent one-year FN outcome (HB grade 1, 2) after resection. Three patients developed subacute facial nerve weakness after salvage SRS (4.2-9.4 months after SRS). This paralysis responded to high dose systemic steroids and no surgical interventions for facial rehabilitation were required. At last follow up (mean 61.6 months, SD = 28.5), facial nerve function was favorable (HB grade 1-2 in 12 patients and HB grade 3 in 1 patient). There were no significant associations between various predictors and subacute deterioration of facial nerve function after SRS. CONCLUSIONS: Sub-acute transient facial nerve dysfunction can develop infrequently over a variable time frame after post-operative salvage SRS and usually responds to steroids. Patients should be adequately counseled about potential of transient deterioration of facial nerve function after salvage SRS.