Cedars-Sinai announced revised recommendations for the staging of HPV-positive throat cancer. The new guidelines are designed to be clearer than the first.
Additionally, new sections of nodal staging were added that decipher if the cancer has advanced to the lymph nodes and provide matching treatment suggestions.
Allen Ho, MD, professor of Surgery, director of the Head and Neck Cancer Program at Cedars-Sinai and lead author of the study emphasized that the HPV vaccine can prevent both cervical cancer and HPV-positive throat cancer. The new guidance is “set to become the official worldwide staging guidance in the coming year.”
The Cedars-Sinai-led study that helped inform the new guidance investigated over 14,000 patients’ health data. Findings suggest that including extranodal extension (ENE) and filling in gaps will improve “clinical relevance and align pathological staging in a condition whose management continues to evolve.”
