Highlights in head and neck cancer

SUMMARY

The ASCO annual meeting was held from the 31^st of May until the 4^th of June 2024 in a live and virtual format. During this Meeting, HPV vaccination shows first encouraging prevention results towards head and neck cancer incidence in young persons. Intensity-modulated proton therapy beats intensity-modulated photon therapy as definitive treatment of oropharyngeal cancer regarding toxicity profile. Promising chemotherapy-free regimens are at the horizon in first-line treatment of recurrent/metastatic HNSCC, though more studies in larger patient populations are needed. Also HPV-targeting immunotherapy is entering in the neoadjuvant and metastatic HNSCC setting, studies are running. Antibody-drug conjugates are prudently looking for a place in later-line treatment of HNSCC. Metronomic chemotherapy shows a clinically very relevant OS benefit for ECOG 2 patients. Immunotherapy is promising in the neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment of locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma. FAPI PET-CT beats ¹⁸F-FDG PET-CT as imaging for medullary thyroid carcinoma.

In this report, the most important headlines will be discussed, with comments on the clinical relevance of the different studies.

(Belg J Med Oncol 2024;18(5):181–90)