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Review
. 2009 Oct;135(10):1303-14.
doi: 10.1007/s00432-009-0648-7. Epub 2009 Jul 30.

A review of risk factors and genetic alterations in head and neck carcinogenesis and implications for current and future approaches to treatment

Loredana G Marcu  1 , E Yeoh
Affiliations
Review

A review of risk factors and genetic alterations in head and neck carcinogenesis and implications for current and future approaches to treatment

Loredana G Marcu et al. J Cancer Res Clin Oncol. 2009 Oct.

Abstract

Head and neck cancer is the fifth most common cancer worldwide but the most common malignant disease site in central Asia. The treatment of head and neck cancer is one of the most challenging in clinical oncology because of the high content of hypoxic cells of the cancer which increases resistance to therapy and also because of the high capacity of the cancer to regrow during treatment. For unresectable tumours, radiotherapy and chemotherapy alone or more often in combination is the treatment of choice. The aim of this paper is to review current understanding of carcinogenesis of head and neck cancer in relation to predisposing risk factors in general and for specific sub-sites and how these risk factors interact with the main reported genetic alterations in the progression of the cancer. The implications of these changes in determining choice of therapy are also discussed from a brief historical perspective of the various treatment approaches of head and neck cancer.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Treatment efficacy of cisplatin with or without radiotherapy based on clinical trial data over the decades shown [the cisplatin-alone curve shows partial response (PR) since locoregional control was incomplete and the cisplatin-radiotherapy curve shows complete locoregional response (CR)]
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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