Multimodality Therapy for Head and Neck Cancer (Hardcover)

This book assists oncologists towards a better understanding of the management of patients with advanced head and neck cancer and provides a stimulus and guide for the essential interdisciplinary approach required of all surgical and non-surgical specialists involved in oncology. The first part of the book is an overview of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). The natural history, prognostic factors, evaluation and staging are reviewed. The principles of single-modality treatment, surgery and radiotherapy are discussed, emphasizing their limitations and indicating areas in which advances of each of these modalities might be expected. Much attention is given to the biostatistical issues in the design and interpretation of clinical trials of SCCHN. In the second part of this book the principles and applications of the various multi-modality treatments for patients with SCCHN are reviewed. The rationale and treatment strategies of combined surgery and radiotherapy are considered and controversial areas are identified. Multi-modality therapy with chemotherapy in its various settings - neo-adjuvant, adjuvant or synchronous radiotherapy - is critically assessed and strategies including chemotherapy which are most likely to benefit patients are indicated. Finally therapies, which are in development, such as immunobiological therapy and differentiation therapy, are reviewed.