Newswise — For his work in defining how a type of head and neck cancer should be studied in clinical trials and ultimately be treated, Robert Den, M.D., a radiation oncologist at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson, has been selected as the clinical winner of the Poster Discussion Recognition Award at the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) annual meeting in San Diego.
This award recognizes novel studies that offer radiation oncologists strategies to improve patient care, according to the ASTRO selection committee.
“Dr. Den’s findings are important because it defines a group of patients who require treatment that differs from other head and neck cancer patients,” says Adam Dicker, MD, PhD, Professor and Chairman of the Department of Radiation Oncology at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. “Our goal is to provide individualized treatment that maintains excellent tumor control while reducing side effects from treatment.”
Head and neck cancers are divided into different sites depending on where a tumor is located, and Dr. Den’s research focused on the management of cancer found in the hypopharynx, the area where the larynx and the esophagus meet. To date, patients with a locally advanced form of this aggressive cancer are studied in clinical trials of new therapies along with other head and neck cancer subtypes. Dr. Den studied whether patients with hypopharyngeal cancer should be managed differently than several other subtypes, which includes cancer in the larynx and HPV-negative oropharynx cancer.
He compared outcomes from 148 patients with hypopharyngeal cancer who were enrolled on a number of different clinical trials along with 694 patients with one of the two other cancer subtypes. These trials tested radiation alone or chemoradiation, or surgery followed by chemoradiation, or other treatment plans.
Among other things, Dr. Den concluded that patients with hypopharynx and larynx cancer should not be treated together on future “larynx preservation” trials, and that chemoradiation should remain the standard of care for patients with hypopharynx cancer. He also found data to suggest that accelerated radiation might be beneficial for treatment of hypopharyngeal cancers.
“It has become increasingly evident that the behavior of cancers from different subsites of the head and neck vary greatly, thus it is imperative to appropriately select patients for future clinical trials to improve outcomes while minimizing toxicity,” Dr. Den says. “This study helps point the way forward.”
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