Validation of the ICON-S staging for HPV-associated oropharyngeal carcinoma using a pre-defined treatment policy

Since the recognition of Human Papillomavirus (HPV) associated oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) (HPV+OPC) as a distinct entity, clinicians have long observed the limitations of the current 7th edition (7th Ed) American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC)/Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) TNM staging ability to reflect survival outcomes in this group of patients. This is not surprising, as the staging system was developed to account for outcomes of patients with traditional smoking-related mucosal head and neck cancer (HNC), whose demographics, risk factors, carcinogenesis and response to therapy differ to HPV+OPC [1–5].

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