Head and Neck

Taxol carboplatin induction for head and neck cancer

Induction chemotherapy before chemoradiation is becoming standard for many types of head and neck cancer. This is because it allows sparing organs by performing a less extensive surgery on a smaller tumor after it had responded to chemotherapy or no surgery at all and overall effectiveness of treatment remains the same or better. The role of chemotherapy and radiation for advanced head and neck cancer has evolved considerably over the last 20 years.

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Erbitux for squamous cell cancer of unknown primary site

About 5% of all metastatic cancers come from the primary in an organ that cannot be securely identified. This may make assigning therapy difficult. The histology of the location may or may not give sufficient clues to where the cancer rose. The usually recommended approach is to use various stains to try to pinpoint the area of origin and then treat for that type of cancer. However, this is not always possible. When the primary site is not identified

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PET for salivary gland cancers

The clinical utility of 18F-FDG PET in evaluating salivary gland malignancies has not been well defined. First we need to know how sensitive and specific PET can be and then a variety of issues regarding its role in staging, restaging and surveillance have to be resolved. The largest study by Hong-Lyel was only in 34 patients. He found that the sensitivity of 18F-FDG PET and CT for detecting primary tumors was 31 of 34 (91.2%) and 27 of 34 (79.4%),

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Proton Beam Radiotherapy

Charged-particle beams consisting of protons or helium ions are a type of radiation therapy that uses particles which is different from conventional radiation that uses electromagnetic (i.e., photon) radiation. Particles have the unique properties of minimal scatter as the particulate beams pass through the tissue. As such, there is less “collateral damage” to the surrounding tissue and it is possible to ensure a more precise deposition of the

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