Combined-modality therapy of head and neck cancer

The treatment of head and neck cancer has traditionally consisted of surgery with postoperative radiation therapy. Chemotherapy has been reserved for palliation. In recent years, induction chemotherapy has been shown to allow for larynx preservation in patients with laryngeal or hypopharyngeal cancer. Concomitant chemoradiotherapy has been shown to provide a statistically significant survival benefit in selected studies and recent meta-analyses. In patients with nasopharyngeal cancer, the use of cisplatin and concomitant radiation therapy results in a marked survival benefit.