Clinical Research Directory

Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy and Transoral Robotic Surgery for Oropharyngeal Cancer.

The objective of this trial is to study the efficacy of treatment of human papilloma virus (HPV) related oropharyngeal cancer with chemotherapy followed by Transoral Robotic Surgery (TORS) as definitive treatment. Current treatment of oropharyngeal cancer are chemo-radiotherapy. There is significant lifelong side effects associated with this approach related to tissue effects of radiotherapy. The side effects results in significant quality of life deterioration among the patients. Overall there is 20% failure rate with this treatment approach. The study hypothesis is that treatment with upfront (neoadjuvant) chemotherapy followed by transoral surgery and neck dissection is highly effective treatment allowing competitive cure rate compared to chemo-radiotherapy with less than 10% failure rate, while avoiding radiotherapy in majority of cases. It is also hypothesized that better functional and quality of life outcome maybe achieved with this approach.

Circulating Biomarkers in Oropharyngeal Cancers

The goal of this observational longitudinal study is to learn about circulating tumor Human Papilloma Virus-DNA (ctHPV-DNA) as a biomarker for HPV positive oropharyngeal cancer and cancer of unknown primary of the head and neck. The main questions it aims to answer are: * Can ctHPV-DNA be used for treatment evaluation in HPV positive oropharyngeal cancer and cancer of unknown primary of the head and neck? * Can circulating HPV-DNA be used as a biomarker for recurrent disease during surveillance? Participants will be asked to leave plasma samples at diagnose, at the end of treatment and at every clinical follow-up. The patients are there own controls.