| REVIEW ARTICLE |
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| Year : 2006 | Volume
: 12
| Issue : 2 | Page : 44--50 |
Palliative radiotherapy in head and neck cancers: Evidence based review
Kaustav Talapatra, Tejpal Gupta, Jai Prakash Agarwal, Sarbani Ghosh Laskar, Shyam Kishore Shrivastava, Ketayun Ardeshir Dinshaw
Department of Radiation Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai - 400 012, India
Correspondence Address:
Jai Prakash Agarwal
Department of Radiation Onology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai - 400 012
India
 Source of Support: None, Conflict of Interest: None  | Check |
DOI: 10.4103/0973-1075.30244
Squamous cell carcinoma of head and neck (SCCHN) is one of the commonest cancers seen in India, constituting up to 25% of their overall cancer burden. Advanced SCCHN is a bad disease with a poor prognosis and patients usually die of uncontrolled loco-regional disease. Curative intent management of loco-regionally advanced SCCHN has become more evidence-based with active clinical research in the form of large prospective randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses. However, little has been written about palliative radiotherapy (PRT) in head and neck cancers. It is widely recognized that PRT provides effective palliation and improved quality-of-life in advanced incurable malignancies. It is in this context that this study proposes to review the existing literature on palliative radiotherapy in advanced incurable SCCHN to help formulate consensus guidelines and recommendations.
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