Multicenter retrospective cohort study of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and transoral robotic surgery for HPV-related OPSCC

Distant metastasis (DM) is the leading cause of death in patients treated for HPV-related oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC). A multicenter retrospective study compared neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by transoral robotic surgery (NECTORS) and neck dissection with historical data from patients receiving the standard of care treatment of concurrent chemoradiation (CCRT). In this study including 110 NECTORS patients and 232 CCRT patients with median 5 years of follow-up, no patients in the NECTORS group compared with 12.3% of patients in the CCRT group had DM. The 5-year mortality was 0 in the NECTORS-group 20% in the CCRT group. The authors conclude that NECTORS was an effective treatment option for patients with stage III or IVa HPV-related OPSCC.