Dr. Saba on Investigational Deintensification Approaches in HPV-Related HNSCC

Nabil F. Saba, MD, FACP, director, Head and Neck Medical Oncology Program, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University, professor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Department of Otolaryngology, Emory University School of Medicine, discusses investigational deintensification approaches in HPV-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma.

An ongoing area of debate in the field is whether treatment deintensification is warranted and how best to de-intensify treatment for patients with HPV-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Some believe transoral robotic surgery (TORS) is a way to stratify patients by their risk of progression after surgery, explains Saba. However, there is a lack of robust data comparing this approach with standard radiation and chemotherapy, he adds.

At the 2019 ASCO Annual Meeting, a small study was presented which compared the TORS procedure with radiation. Results suggested that the long-term toxicity was lower with TORS than it is with radiation. However, due to the size of the study, larger studies will be needed to confirm the signal observed.