[Adjuvant treatment of head and neck cancers: advances and challenges]

Abstract

Following the release, in 2004, of the results from 2 multicentric, phase III studies, the adjuvant treatment of locally advanced head-and-neck cancers nowadays belongs to Level I of Evidence-Based Medicine, with the advent of concomitant, high-dose chemoradiation. The concurrent delivery of radiotherapy (60 to 66 Gy using a conventional fractionation) and high-dose, bolus cisplatin (100 mg/m2, days 1, 22 and 43) is considered, in post-operative setting, as the standard approach in patients with locally advanced disease. Future adjuvant treatments should anchor to the development of high-precision irradiation techniques, as well as concomitant delivery of radiotherapy with more efficacious cytotoxic drugs and/or targeted therapies.