CompARE: study protocol for a phase III randomised controlled platform trial comparing alternative regimens for escalating treatment of intermediate and high-risk oropharyngeal cancer.

Background: Patients with intermediate and high-risk oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) have poorer response to standard treatment and poorer overall survival compared to low-risk OPC. CompARE is designed to test alternative approaches to intensified treatment for these patients to improve survival.

Methods: CompARE is a pragmatic phase III, open-label, multicenter randomised controlled trial with an adaptive multi-arm, multi-stage design and an integrated QuinteT Recruitment Intervention.

Safety and Treatment Outcomes of Nivolumab for the Treatment of Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Retrospective Multicenter Cohort Study.

Nivolumab is an anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody currently used as immunotherapy for patients with recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) with evidence of disease progression after platinum-based chemotherapy. This study evaluates real-world safety and treatment outcomes of non-trial nivolumab use. A retrospective multicenter cohort study of patients with recurrent/metastatic HNSCC treated with nivolumab between January 2017 and March 2020 was performed.

Hypofractionated chemoradiation for head and cancer: Data from the PET NECK trial.

There has been increased interest in hypofractionated accelerated chemoradiation for head and neck cancer during the recent first peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Prospective data regarding this approach from randomised trials is lacking. In the PET NECK study, 564 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck receiving definitive chemoradiation were randomised to either planned neck dissection or PET CT scan guided surveillance.

Assessing Novel Drugs and Radiation Technology in the Chemoradiation of Oropharyngeal Cancer.

Integrating immunotherapy, proton therapy and biological dose escalation into the definitive chemoradiation of oropharyngeal cancer poses several challenges. Reliable and reproducible data must be obtained in a timely fashion. However, despite recent international radiotherapy contouring guidelines, controversy persists as to the applicability of such guidelines to all cases.

Revised Modelling of the Addition of Synchronous Chemotherapy to Radiotherapy in Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck-A Low ?

The effect of synchronous chemotherapy in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN) has been modelled as additional Biologically Effective Dose (BED) or as a prolonged tumour cell turnover time during accelerated repopulation. Such models may not accurately predict the local control seen when hypofractionated accelerated radiotherapy is used with synchronous chemotherapy. For the purposes of this study three isoeffect relationships were assumed: Firstly, from the RTOG 0129 trial, synchronous cisplatin chemotherapy with 70 Gy in 35 fractions over 46 days results in equivalent local control to synchronous cisplatin chemotherapy with 36 Gy in 18# followed by 36 Gy in 24# (2# per day) over a total of 39 days.