Can We Avoid Bilateral Radiation Therapy In Head-And-Neck Carcinoma Of Unknown Primary In The Pet-Ct Era?

Background •Cervical nodal metastasis from clinically undetectable primary squamous cell carcinoma accounts for 2-9% of head and neck malignancies1 •Published data on ipsilateral radiotherapy in unknown primary head and neck cancer predominately predates the use of PET-CT and includes various radiotherapy (RT) techniques and doses •In a review of patients treated prior to 2000 nodal relapse rates ranged from 31and 63% (median 52%) and mucosal carcinoma emergence rates ranged between 4 and 44% (median 8%)2 • We aimed to report outcomes of patients with unknown primary head and neck cancer treated ipsilaterally in the modern PET-CT staged era