AUTHOR=Klinghammer Konrad , Lorini Luigi , Nevens Daan , Simon Christian , Machiels Jean-Pascal , Bossi Paolo 

TITLE=Treatment Stratification in First-Line Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer, on Behalf of the EORTC Young Investigator Head and Neck Cancer Group

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Oncology

VOLUME=Volume 12 - 2022

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/oncology/articles/10.3389/fonc.2022.730785

DOI=10.3389/fonc.2022.730785

ISSN=2234-943X

ABSTRACT=Multiple factors differentially influence treatment decisions in the recurrent/metastatic first line treatment of HNSCC. The EORTC Young investigator group launched a survey among treating physicians to explore the main influencing factors for treatment stratification. The questionnaire was posted as a web-survey link from May to August 2020. Next to defining the factors that mostly influence therapeutic decision the survey was complemented by a clinical case discussion of five patient cases. 118 responses were collected. The key factors identified to guide treatment decision were performance status, PD-L1 Expression, time from last systemic treatment >6 months, and disease burden. Prospective evaluation of patient characteristics and additional potential predictive biomarkers for novel treatment options remains an important question to stratify personalized treatment for RM HNSCC.