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Review
. 2019 Jan 18:12:677-683.
doi: 10.2147/OTT.S181697. eCollection 2019.

Role of radiotherapy in the treatment of metastatic head and neck cancer

Rafael Ordoñez  1 , Ana Otero  1 , Inmaculada Jerez  1 , Jose A Medina  1 , Yolanda Lupiañez-Pérez  1 , Jaime Gomez-Millan  1
Affiliations
Review

Role of radiotherapy in the treatment of metastatic head and neck cancer

Rafael Ordoñez et al. Onco Targets Ther. .

Abstract

In metastatic or locally advanced head and neck tumors that present in frail patients or after chemotherapy progression, radiotherapy is normally used as a palliative treatment, with a high rate of symptom palliation and improvement in quality of life. However, there is controversy about what the optimal regimen is. Moreover, despite the poor prognosis of metastatic head and neck cancer, different retrospective studies have shown that a minority of patients with oligometastatic disease experience prolonged disease-free survival after adding curative radiotherapy treatment to the metastatic disease and/or primary tumor. Different retrospective studies have identified clinical prognostic factors that may be used to select candidate patients with metastatic head and neck cancer for a radical approach with radiotherapy. The purpose of this manuscript is to review the role of radiotherapy in metastatic and locally advanced head and neck tumors.

Keywords: head and neck cancer; oligometastatic disease; palliative; radiotherapy.

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Conflict of interest statement

Disclosure The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Algorithm for RT in metastatic head and neck cancer. Abbreviations: CT, chemotherapy; HPV, human papillomavirus; LRP, locoregional progression; NPC, nasopharyngeal cancer; PS, performance status; RT, radiotherapy.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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