An international research team has announced groundbreaking results in the treatment of advanced head and neck cancer. In a phase III clinical trial involving 714 patients from 192 centers worldwide—including the National Institute of Oncology in Gliwice—it was demonstrated that the use of immunotherapy with pembrolizumab significantly improves patient prognosis. The results were published in the prestigious The New England Journal of Medicine. 

Until now, the standard treatment for advanced head and neck cancer was surgical operation, supplemented by radiotherapy or chemoradiotherapy. Immunotherapy—although effective in patients with disease recurrence or metastases—had not previously been routinely used in early stages of treatment. The new study shows that including pembrolizumab both before surgery (neoadjuvant therapy) and after it (adjuvant therapy) increases the effectiveness of treatment without a significant increase in toxicity. 

The study compared two groups of patients. One group was treated according to the current standard, while the other received additional immunotherapy with pembrolizumab—two cycles before surgery and 15 cycles after. Three years of follow-up showed that the percentage of patients living without signs of disease was 59.8% in the pembrolizumab group, compared to 45.9% in the standard treatment group. The median progression-free survival time, relapse, or metastasis was more than twice as long in the experimental group—59.7 months versus 26.9 months. 

The Gliwice branch of the National Institute of Oncology also participated in the study, where 37 patients were qualified, of which 22 underwent full randomization. 

Source: Science in Poland.