Treatment Modalities and Outcomes of Fanconi Anemia Patients with Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: Series of 9 Cases and Review of the Literature

Overview

Journal Head Neck

Specialties General Surgery
Oncology

Date 2019 Jan 12

PMID 30633423

Citations 15

Authors

Thomas H Beckham

Jonathan Leeman

Chiaojung Jillian Tsai

Nadeem Riaz

Eric Sherman

Bhuvanesh Singh

Nancy Lee

Sean McBride

Daniel S Higginson

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Background: Fanconi anemia (FA) is associated with an increased risk of developing head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) and presents a treatment dilemma due to concerns of increased toxicities from chemotherapy and radiation therapy (RT).

Methods: We reviewed the literature on HNSCC in FA patients and report on our experience treating 9 FA patients with HNSCC.

Results: Surgery was generally well-tolerated and surgery alone resulted in durable local control for 2 patients. Four patients received adjuvant RT that was tolerable in most cases, although 1 patient required a treatment break and early cessation of RT. Three of the irradiated patients received concurrent cetuximab.

Conclusions: In patients with adverse features, adjuvant radiation with concurrent cetuximab may be feasible with careful monitoring, although local disease control is infrequent. Early detection via screening permitting a surgery-alone approach represents the best opportunity for cure in FA patients with HSNCC.

Citing Articles

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