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Simple Summary: Patients treated with definitive accelerated radiotherapy (DART) struggle with low quality of life, pain and persistent treatment-related symptoms even many years after the treatment. Everyday pain in the head, neck and shoulder areas is present among almost all HNC survivors treated with DART. One-third of the examined DART patients were depressed. The depressed group scored significantly worse in most of the quality-of-life subscales and suffered more intense pain than the non-depressed. Head and neck cancer survivors, especially those who are depressed, may require additional psychosocial, physiotherapeutic and medical intervention programs. (1) Background: The goal of this study is to evaluate psychological tolerance and health-related quality of life (QOL) in head and neck (HN) cancer patients treated with definitive accelerated radiotherapy (DART). (2) Methods: 76 recurrence-free patients eligible for the study, who were treated with DART in the CAIR-2 phase III clinical study (median of follow-up = 47 months), completed EORTC QLQ-C30 with the H&N35 module, Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and Visual–Analog Scales (VAS) of pain in HN and the neck/arm areas. (3) Results: The most dominant symptoms measured with QLQ-C30 were as follows: fatigue (44/100), sleeplessness (39/100), financial problems (38/100) and pain (32/100). Within the H&N35, the highest scores were reported on the subscales of sticky saliva (60/100), mouth dryness (65/100) and increased intake of painkillers (50/100). Pain (VAS) was reported by 87% (HN area) and 78% (shoulder area) of the patients, with a mean score of 3/10. One-third of the patients reported depressive moods (HADS ≥ 15 points) with an average score of 12.5/42 p. The depressed group, who smoked more as compared to the non-depressed group before DART (96% vs. 78%) and required steroids treatment (85% vs. 58%) during DART, also scored significantly worse on 23 of the 35 subscales of QLQ-C30 and H&N35 and experienced more intense pain (VAS). Women and less-advanced patients scored better in several aspects of quality of life. (4) Conclusions: Patients treated with DART struggle with low quality of life and persistent treatment-related symptoms including constant pain. HNC survivors, especially those who are depressed, may require additional psychosocial, rehabilitation and medical intervention programmes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Early detection of treatment failure may improve clinical outcome and overall survival in patients with head and neck cancer after first-line treatment. Circulating cell-free HPV16 DNA (cfHPV16 DNA) was evaluated as a possible complementary marker to radiological assessment of early response in patients with HPV-related oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) after radiotherapy alone or combined with chemotherapy.Methods: The study included 66 patients with HPV-related OPC receiving radical radiotherapy alone or in combination with chemotherapy. cfHPV16 DNA was assessed in the blood of all patients before treatment using TaqMan-based qPCR. Subsequent analysis of cfHPV16 DNA was performed 12 weeks after treatment completion, along with radiological assessment of early treatment results.Results: Complete (CRR) and incomplete radiological response (IRR) was found in 43 (65%) and 23 (35%) patients respectively. cfHPV16 DNA was present in 5 (28%) patients with IRR, while only in 1 (4%) with CRR. Three of five patients with IRR that were positive for cfHPV16 DNA exhibited histopathologically confirmed local or regional treatment failure, and other two developed distant metastases. None of the patients with negative cfHPV16 DNA presented disease failure.Conclusion: The post-treatment assessment of cfHPV16 DNA in patients with HPV-related OPC may be used as a complementary biomarker to conventional imaging-based examinations for early identification of treatment failure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paragangliomas of the head and neck are a group of neoplasms which occur very rarely. Most of them are benign tumours. Tinnitus, headaches and dysfunction of the cranial nerves are typical symptoms. Some paragangliomas have metastatic abilities and they can produce catecholamines. There are some typical imaging features in CT and MRI scans which help to determine the correct diagnosis without the necessity of performing a biopsy which can be associated with a haemorrhage risk. Therapeutic management consists of the choice between an active observation, surgical procedure, as well as radiotherapy and systemic therapy in the case of malignant paragangliomas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To update 5-year results of a previously published study on special 7-days-a-week fractionation continuous accelerated irradiation (CAIR) for head-and-neck cancer patients. Methods and Materials: One hundred patients with squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck in Stage T2-4N0-1M0 were randomized between two definitive radiation treatments: accelerated fractionation 7 days a week including weekends (CAIR) and conventional 5 days a week (control). Hence the overall treatment time was 2 weeks shorter in CAIR. Results: Five-year local tumor control was 75% in the CAIR group and 33% in the control arm (p < 0.00004). Tumor-cure benefit corresponded with significant improvement in disease-free survival and overall survival rates. Confluent mucositis was the main acute toxicity, with the incidence significantly higher in CAIR patients than in control (respectively, 94% vs. 53%). When 2.0-Gy fractions were used, radiation necrosis developed in 5 patients (22%) in the CAIR group as a consequential late effect (CLE), but when fraction size was reduced to 1.8 Gy no more CLE occurred. Actuarial 5-year morbidity-free survival rate was similar for both treatments. Conclusions: Selected head-and-neck cancer patients could be treated very effectively with 7-days-a-week radiation schedule with no compromise of total dose and with slight 10% reduction of fraction dose (2 Gy–1.8 Gy), which article gives 1 week reduction of overall treatment time compared with standard 70 Gy in 35 fractions over 47–49 days. Although this report is based on the relatively small group of patients, its results have encouraged us to use CAIR fractionation in a standard radiation treatment for moderately advanced head-and-neck cancer patients. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]