Reirradiation of Recurrent and Second Primary Cancers of the Head and Neck: a Review of the Contemporary Evidence.

OPINION STATEMENT: Recurrent and second primary head and neck cancers represent a clinical challenge due to frequently unresectable and/or locally advanced disease. Given that many of these patients have received definitive doses of radiation previously, reirradiation is associated with significant morbidity. Use of modern approaches such as conformal photon-based planning and charged particle therapy using protons or carbon ions allows for greater sparing of normal tissues while maintaining or escalating doses to tumor volumes. While the reirradiation data has consistently shown benefits to local control and even survival from escalation of radiotherapy dose, excessive cumulative doses can result in severe toxicities, including fatal carotid blowout syndrome. For all modalities, appropriate patient selection is of utmost importance. Large-scale trials and multi-institutional registry data are needed to standardize treatment modalities, and to determine optimal doses and volumes for reirradiation.

Adjuvant radiation and cetuximab improves local control in head and neck cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma: Phase II study.

BACKGROUND: Cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma of the head/neck (CSCCHN) is common due to chronic sun exposure. As CSCCHN highly expresses EGFR, we prospectively studied postoperative concurrent cetuximab with radiotherapy for locally advanced CSCCHN (LA-CSCCHN). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Single-institutional phase II trial of LA-CSCCHN (NCT XXXX). Adjuvant radiation was given with concurrent cetuximab. Primary endpoint of 2-year LRC and secondary objectives of 2-year disease-free survival (DFS) and 2-year OS were assessed by Kaplan-Meier analysis. RESULTS: Twenty-four patients ages 47-88 (median 71 years) were treated from 2014 to 2017. Fourteen patients had T3/4 disease, 5 had N1 disease, and 7 were N2/3. At median follow-up of 42 months, median OS and DFS was not reached and 64 months. Two-year OS was 75%, 2-year DFS was 70.8%. LRC was 91.1% at 2 years. All grade 3 adverse events were related to skin toxicity (12.5% radiation-related dermatitis, 16.7% cetuximab-related rash). CONCLUSIONS: LRC compares favorably to historical data examining postoperative radiation alone but requires further investigation.