Good tolerance and long-term complete remission after definitive intensity-modulated radiotherapy for locally advanced head and neck cancer in a patient with human immunodeficiency virus infection: A case report and literature review

Impact of smoking cessation on clinical outcomes in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma receiving curative chemoradiotherapy: A prospective study

BACKGROUND

We hypothesized that patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) with smoking cessation during curative chemoradiotherapy (CRT) had fewer complications and lower tumor progression risks.

METHODS

Sixty-three patients with nonmetastatic HNSCC who were smokers at diagnosis (carbon monoxide [CO] breath concentrations ≥3 ppm) and underwent curative CRT were prospectively enrolled. Successful smoking cessation throughout CRT was confirmed by CO breath concentrations <3 ppm at CRT completion.

RESULTS

Forty-one patients (65%) successfully discontinued smoking throughout CRT. With a median 33-month follow-up, patients with successful smoking cessation during CRT had significantly fewer, greater, and lower probabilities of grade ≥3 acute toxicities (P = .01), progression-free survival (P = .03), and permanent gastrostomy or tracheostomy (P = .04), respectively, than those continuing smoking throughout CRT. In multivariate analysis, successful smoking cessation during CRT significantly reduced tumor progression risks (hazard ratio: 0.4, P = .05).

CONCLUSION

Smoking cessation during curative CRT reduced treatment-related toxicities and tumor progression risks in patients with HNSCC.

Radiotherapy in patients with HIV: current issues and review of the literature

Although the introduction of highly active antiretroviral therapy has radically improved the life expectancy of patients with HIV, HIV positivity is still considered a major barrier to oncological treatment for patients with cancer because of their worse prognosis and increased susceptibility to toxic effects compared with patients who are immunocompetent. The use of radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy, immunotherapy, or molecular targeted therapy is the standard of care for several cancers. These new drugs and substantial improvements in radiotherapy techniques, including intensity-modulated radiotherapy, image-guided radiotherapy, and stereotactic ablative radiotherapy, are optimising the feasibility of such anticancer treatments and are providing new opportunities for patients with cancer and HIV. In this Review, we discuss the role of radiotherapy, with or without chemotherapy or new drugs, in the treatment of cancer in patients with HIV, with a focus on the efficacy and tolerability of this approach on the basis of available evidence. Moreover, we analyse and discuss the biological basis of interactions between HIV and radiotherapy, evidence from preclinical studies, and immunomodulation by radiotherapy in the HIV setting.