HPV-Positive Oropharyngeal Cancer: Data May Justify New Approach

Abstract

patients had better 3-year rates of overall survival (82.4%) than those with HPVnegative tumors (57.1%). HPV-positive patients also had better progression-free survival (73.7% vs. 43.4%) at 3 years. The authors, led by Kian Ang, M.D., Ph.D. , a professor of radiation oncology at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, concluded that those results were “consistent with the hypothesis that HPVpositive and HPV-negative oropharyngeal squamous-cell carcinomas are distinct and have different causes, risk-factor profi les, and survival outcomes.” The differences are striking. The main