Treatment of early stage head and neck cancer

With the exception of glottic laryngeal carcinomas, head and neck tumors are discovered less frequently in early tumor stage I/II than in advanced stage III/IV. Histologically, they are predominantly squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity, pharynx, and larynx, or cervical cancer of unknown primary (CUP) syndrome. With the exception of the nasopharynx, surgery and radiotherapy as monotherapy for early tumor stages are considered equivalent procedures in terms of oncological outcome. Among surgical procedures, transoral procedures have a lower morbidity rate compared to open procedures. With regard to side effects, there are therapy-specific differences. For localized head and neck tumor and cN0 neck, elective ipsilateral neck dissection or unilateral elective neck irradiation is predominantly recommended for the treatment of the neck. For early nasopharyngeal carcinoma, radiotherapy or combined radiochemotherapy is the treatment of choice.