Re-irradiation for Recurrent Head and Neck Cancer

Abstract

After radical treatment of head and neck cancer about 20-50% of patients are diagnosed with the locoregional recurrence during first two years. The main treatment for recurrent disease is salvage surgery, but in most cases, surgery is not feasible due to the high risk of complications and morbidity, and only 20% of patients are suitable for surgical salvage. Reirradiation is an effective treatment method with acceptable toxicity, but this treatment method is limited to normal tissue tolerance to a total dose. When chemotherapy is administered for recurrence, the response rate is up to 40%, so with the advancement of technical measures, after introduction of intensity-modulated radiotherapy, fractionated stereotactic body radiation therapy, high-dose-rate brachytherapy, proton beam reirradiation, a reirradiation is increasingly more often used for head and neck cancer relapse treatment. In this chapter, we will discuss about reirradiation with curative intent using new different radiation techniques (intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), high-dose-rate brachytherapy (HDR-BRT) and proton beam reirradiation (PBRT) for previously irradiated head and neck cancer and present recommendations for retreatment of head and neck cancer relapse using reirradiation alone or with systemic chemotherapy/biologic therapy.