Head and Neck Cancers

For patients with head and neck cancer who cannot access full-dose checkpoint inhibitors, adding low-dose nivolumab to metronomic chemotherapy may represent an acceptable alternative treatment approach.

Black mulberry extract may help patients manage oral mucositis, dry mouth, and weight gain, while receiving oral cancer medications.

As the treatment paradigm continues to evolve, nurses play a key role in educating patients, monitoring treatments, and watching for adverse effects.

Immunotherapy has changed the face of cancer treatment, but requires appropriate irAE management to reach full potential.

At a 5-year follow-up, the failure-free survival rate with capecitabine was 83.3% vs 72.2% with observation.

A presentation at the 2022 ESMO Congress found that xevinapant plus chemoradiotherapy decreased the risk of death by twice that of placebo for patients with unresectable, locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

The overall survival benefit associated with pembrolizumab for patients with head and neck cancer continued to be observed at a 4-year follow-up of the KEYNOTE-048 trial.

Structured preceptorships promote competence, confidence, and job satisfaction in new oncology nurse practitioners.

In the phase 1 SURPASS trial, 72% of patients with solid tumors developed any-grade cytokine release syndrome following an infusion of ADP-A2M4CD8. The median time to resolution was 5 days.

Mandible reconstruction and maxilla reconstruction surgeries might be optimized with virtual surgical planning, according to an expert speaker at the 2022 Supportive Care in Cancer Annual Meeting.

Avasopasem was associated with a significant reduction in severe oral mucositis in patients with locally nonmetastatic head and neck cancer undergoing chemoradiotherapy.

Kellie Zeichner, RN, BSN, OCN, discusses the production of biosimilars, their approval and naming processes, and why immunogenicity is important when discussing these agents.

The phase 3 RATIONALE 309 trial highlighted the combined efficacy of tislelizumab and chemotherapy in the frontline treatment of patients with recurrent or metastatic nasopharyngeal cancer.

A post-hoc efficacy analysis of KEYNOTE-048 found that CPS scores were linked to immunotherapy efficacy in patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

The FDA has approved a new biweekly dosing regimen of 500 mg/m2 as a 120-minute intravenous infusion for cetuximab (Erbitux) for patients with KRAS wild-type, EGFR-expressing colorectal cancer or squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Tipifarnib showed promising clinical activity in patients with recurrent and/or metastatic, HRAS-mutant head and neck squamous cell carcinoma whose disease had progressed after prior therapy.

The FDA has granted a breakthrough therapy designation to tipifarnib for use in patients with recurrent or metastatic HRAS-mutated head and neck squamous cell carcinoma with variant allele frequency of 20% or higher following progressive disease on platinum-based chemotherapy.

Nivolumab in combination with chemotherapy as a frontline treatment demonstrated a significant survival benefit in patients with metastatic gastric cancer, gastroesophageal junction cancer, or esophageal adenocarcinoma.

On Friday, the FDA expanded the approval for Gardasil 9 for the prevention of oropharyngeal and other head and neck cancers caused by human papillomavirus (HPV) types 16,18,31, 33, 45, 52, and 58, according to Merck, the manufacturer of the vaccine.

Some oncology nurses are leading the improvement of survivorship care, a field that is becoming increasingly important in the world of cancer.

The FDA approved pembrolizumab to treat certain patients with recurrent, locally advanced or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus.

The FDA approved pembrolizumab alone or in combination with 5-FU to treat recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma.

Healthcare providers should not base cancer care with immune checkpoint inhibitors on gender, according to recent study findings.

A group of researchers in the UK sought out to determine the efficacy of a reduced-dose regimen of oxaliplatin (Eloxatin) and capecitabine (Xeloda) in this patient population through the randomized, phase III GO2 clinical trial.

The HPV vaccine is commonly associated with preventing cervical cancer, but it plays a major role in oral cancers, too.

Nivolumab (Opdivo) significantly improved overall survival (OS) versus chemotherapy in patients with unresectable advanced or recurrent esophageal cancer that is refractory to or intolerant of fluoropyrimidine plus platinum-based therapy, according to topline findings of the phase III ATTRACTION-3 study.

BLU-667 appeared to be well-tolerated and had broad clinical benefit among patients with advanced, RET-altered solid tumors who progressed on prior therapies, according to study findings from a phase I clinical trial presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2018.

Colleen O’Leary, MSN, RN, AOCNS, teaches nurses how to employ compassion and professionalism to improve quality of life for survivors with complex challenges.

Nivolumab (Opdivo) improved quality of life scores in most patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC).