Head and Neck Cancer: A Comprehensive Review of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Worldwide head and neck cancers occur in 550,000 people with around 300,000 deaths each year. Although head and neck region may give rise to many different histological types of malignancies, around 90% of all cancers affecting this region are squamous cell carcinomas. These are the sixth leading cancer by incidence worldwide. Tobacco, smoked and smokeless, is the most important preventable risk factor. Alcohol is also a major independent risk factor, that when combined with tobacco has especially enhanced carcinogenic effects. More recently human papilloma virus (HPV) has emerged as a major etiology, especially for oropharyngeal carcinomas; affecting younger population, having better survival outcomes compared with cancers associated with tobacco and alcohol.The five-year overall survival rate of patients with HNSCC, as a whole, is about 40-50%. About one third of patients present with early stage disease, while the rest are locoregionally advanced and metastatic.This book encompasses head and neck cancers of squamous histology; ranging from epidemiology, risk factors, prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment and survivorship; discussing each site separately and comprehensively but without in-depth analysis of the studies leading to these recommendations, to keep the reading succinct, up-to-date and applicable to practice as well as informative for patients and general reading.