Head and Neck Cancer

Epidemiology: Head and neck cancer (HNC) is a group of cancers that ranks seventh in the world with 890,000 new cases and 450,000 deaths [1, 2]. The incidences for the cancers of lip and oral cavity cancer, nasopharynx, larynx, oropharynx, and hypopharynx are 377,713 (2%), 133,354 (0.7%), 184,615 (1%), 98,412 (0.5%), 84,254 (0.4%) and the mortality rates are 177,757 (1.8%), 80,008 (0.8%), 99,840 (1%), 48,143 (0.5%), 38,599 (0.4%), respectively [1, 3]. In the United States, the percentage of HPV-positive oropharyngeal malignancies increased from 16.3% in the 1980s to more than 72.7% in the 2000s [2]. Men (16.9 new cases per 100,000) were more likely than women (6.2 new cases per 100,000) to be diagnosed with these cancers [3]. Laryngeal cancer is a rare disease with an annual incidence of 3.1 per 100,000 [3]. Men are more likely than women to get laryngeal cancer, with a rate of 4.1 in men and 0.9 in women per 100,000 [3]. The malignancies of the salivary glands are rare, with a frequency of 1.3 per 100,000 [3]. Adenocarcinomas of the parotid, the largest salivary gland, are the most common tumors.