Overview of Treatment of Oropharyngeal Cancer

There are different types of treatment for patients with oropharyngeal cancer.

Treatment is planned by a team of doctors with expertise in treating head and neck cancer.

Four types of standard treatment are used:

• Surgery
• Radiation therapy
• Chemotherapy
• Targeted therapy

New types of treatment being tested in clinical trials:

• Immunotherapy

Treatment for oropharyngeal cancer may cause side effects.

Patients may want to think about taking part in a clinical trial.

Patients can enter clinical trials before, during, or after starting their cancer treatment.

Follow-up tests may be needed.

Treatment of Oropharyngeal Cancer

Stage I and Stage II Oropharyngeal Cancer:

Treatment of newly diagnosed stage I and stage II oropharyngeal cancer may include:

• Radiation therapy.
• Surgery.

Stage III and Stage IV Oropharyngeal Cancer:

Treatment of newly diagnosed stage III oropharyngeal cancer and stage IV oropharyngeal cancer may include:

• For patients with locally advanced cancer, surgery followed by radiation therapy. Chemotherapy also may be given at the same time as radiation therapy.
• Radiation therapy alone for patients who cannot have chemotherapy.
• Chemotherapy given at the same time as radiation therapy.
• Chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy given at the same time as more chemotherapy.
• Clinical trials.

Standard treatment Options

Surgery

Surgery may be used to diagnose and treat oropharyngeal cancers.

After the doctor removes all the cancer that can be seen at the time of the surgery, some patients may be given chemotherapy or radiation therapy after surgery to kill any cancer cells that are left. Treatment given after the surgery, to lower the risk that the cancer will come back, is called adjuvant therapy.

Radiation therapy

Radiation therapy is a cancer treatment that uses high-energy x-rays or other types of radiation to kill cancer cells or keep them from growing. External radiation therapy uses a machine outside the body to send radiation toward the area of the body with cancer.

Certain ways of giving external radiation therapy can help keep radiation from damaging nearby healthy tissue. These types of radiation therapy include the following:

Conformal radiation therapy: Conformal radiation therapy uses a computer to make a 3-dimensional (3-D) picture of the tumor and shapes the radiation beams to fit the tumor.

Intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT): IMRT is a type of 3-dimensional (3-D) radiation therapy that uses a computer to make pictures of the size and shape of the tumor. Thin beams of radiation of different intensities (strengths) are aimed at the tumor from many angles.

Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. When chemotherapy is taken by mouth or injected into a vein, the drugs enter the bloodstream and can reach cancer cells throughout the body (systemic chemotherapy).

Chemotherapy refers to medications that stop or slow the growth of cancer cells by interfering with the ability of rapidly growing cells like cancer cells to divide.

Drugs commonly used to treat oropharyngeal cancers are called cis-platinum or less commonly, carboplatinum.

Both of these are administered as an infusion through the vein over a few hours.

Cis-platinum can be administered every three weeks or every week.

Carboplatinum is administered every three weeks.