Head and neck cancers account for 17% of all cancers worldwide. The causes are many: in addition to smoking and alcohol, in the last 30 years there has been a 300% increase in oropharyngeal tumors, especially of the tonsil, due to infection with the HPV virus, the human papilloma virus, due to sexual. The data comes from the World Congress of the International Federation of Head and Neck Oncologic Societies, held for the first time in Italy, in Rome, with the presence of 1500 experts.
The reduction in incidence linked to the benefits of anti HPV vaccination, say the oncologists, will in fact take decades and only after 2060 will there be a decrease. Today, however, clinicians have several effective options available to control head and neck cancer. In about 40% of patients who receive late-stage diagnosis, immunotherapy achieves long-term survival. And, thanks to the advances in robotic surgery, it is possible to avoid mutilating operations and protect the quality of life. In Italy, warns the president of the Congress Giuseppe Spriano, head of Otorhinolaryngology at the Irccs Humanitas Clinical Institute in Rozzano, “40% of these cases are attributable to HPV infection. Hence the importance of vaccination, capable of eliminate HPV-related cancers.Immunization has been offered free by the NHS since 2008 to girls and boys aged 11. But if we consider all head and neck cancers, over 70% are caused by smoking and alcohol, and when disease is detected at an early stage, the chances of recovery vary from 75% to 100%”.
Too often, however, diagnoses occur at an advanced stage, especially due to an underestimation of symptoms, such as burning or lesions in the oral cavity, sore throat, tongue pain, lowering of the voice, painful swallowing or neck swelling. In the presence of one of these signals, which persists for more than three weeks, says Spriano, “it is important to undergo an otorhinolaryngological examination”. The congress also presents advances in therapies, from robotic surgery to radiotherapy, which is increasingly personalized today, to hadrontherapy which uses radiations other than traditional ones and featuring very high precision.