Head and neck cancer recurs early: Curb follow-up imaging?

Most HPV-positive failures occurred within 6 months

Relapse of human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal cancer after definitive therapy tended to occur early and in association with symptoms or imaging evidence, a retrospective review of a case series showed.

During a median follow-up of 3 years, 13 of 246 patients had locoregional failure, all but one associated with symptoms or identified at the 3-month follow-up PET-CT imaging assessment. Additionally, 15 of 21 distant recurrences were identified by 3-month post-treatment imaging or appearance of symptoms. Read more.