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. 2021 May 18;13(10):2457.
doi: 10.3390/cancers13102457.

Opportunities and Limits in Salvage Surgery in Persistent or Recurrent Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Gerhard Frank Huber  1   2
Affiliations

Opportunities and Limits in Salvage Surgery in Persistent or Recurrent Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Gerhard Frank Huber. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Except for HPV-induced cancers of the oropharynx, survival rates in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (HNSCC) have not changed substantially over the last decades. Salvage surgery plays an important role where primary treatment was unsuccessful since 50% of advanced-stage patients relapse after nonsurgical primary treatment. Depending on a variety of factors, a considerable number of patients in whom primary treatment was not successful can still be cured by salvage surgery. It is the goal of this review to elucidate these factors with the aim to counsel patients and their relatives realistically about the chances of being cured.

Keywords: cancer persistence; cancer recurrence; head and neck cancer; salvage surgery; squamous cell carcinoma; treatment failure.

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Conflict of interest statement

Gerhard Huber declares that he has no conflict of interest.

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