Postoperative Chemoradiation for Oral Cavity Cancer with High-Risk Pathologic Features

Following surgical resection of oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma, certain pathologic findings identify patients at elevated risk for recurrence. For these patients, surgery alone is not considered sufficient and adjuvant treatment is indicated.

This protocol applies to patients with oral cavity cancer who have completed surgery and whose pathology reveals high-risk features — placing them in a category where adjuvant treatment is part of established care.

Treatment approach (partial)

The approach involves postoperative concurrent chemoradiation — a platinum-based systemic agent delivered together with radiotherapy after surgery. Which agent, at which schedule, and under what eligibility criteria are defined in the full protocol.

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References

For patients at high risk of recurrence, adjuvant treatment using radiation therapy or chemoradiation is often used.
The established standard of care for patients with high-risk features (pENE and/or positive margins) is postoperative concurrent CRT with high-dose cisplatin at 100 mg/m2 once every 3 weeks.
In cisplatin-eligible patients, the standard of care for OSCC with high-risk features is high-dose cisplatin 100 mg/m2 once every 3 weeks or lower-dose cisplatin 40 mg/m2 once weekly, which should be added concurrently to radiotherapy.

DOI: 10.1200/EDBK_389810

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