Onkológia 3/2021
Systemic treatment of recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck carcinoma
Recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinomas represent a group of malignant tumors with unfavourable prognosis, yet they are immunosensitive. Checkpoint inhibitors use became standard in treatment of tumors with PD-L1 expression. New standard in first-line treatment is pembrolizumab alone or combined with platinum-based chemotherapy with 5-FU. A second-line standard treatment is nivolumab or pembrolizumab. A platinum-based chemotherapy with 5-FU and cetuximab remains a standard treatment for tumors without PD-L1 expression. Some recommendations allow substitution of 5-FU by taxanes.
Keywords: head and neck cancer, immunotherapy, pembrolizumab, nivolumab, cetuximab
