[Present status of concurrent chemoreadiotherapy in squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck]

Head neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a common kind of malignancies in human body. For HNSCC in early stage, either surgical operation or radiotherapy can acquire satisfactory treatment results. However, any single treatment modality such as surgery alone or single radiation is insufficient to gain satisfactory tumor control. Multidisciplinary treatment (MDT) has become a mainstay and important therapeutic strategy in the management of HNSCC. Among various approaches in the MDT, concurrent chemoradiotheraqpy (CCR) constitutes a major progress, which implicates a lot in improving outcomes and organ preservations in managing HNSCC. In the present review, the history, mechanisms, indications along with side effects and drawbacks, and perspectives of CCR are to be described and discussed, in the hope of providing effective guidance for the domestic MDT, especially CCR in the management of HNSCC.