Metastatic Head and Neck Malignancy

Dear Colleagues,

Head and neck carcinoma (HNC) accounts for approximately 550,000 cases annually in the whole world. In the United States, it has been reported that about 3% of all cancers are head and neck origin, and approximately 63,000 Americans develop HNC annually. While the incidence of HNC has been declining in advanced nations due to the decrease in smokers, a rise in HPV-related HNC has been attracting attention.

The initial manifestations of HNC are often yielded by cervical metastases, and patients are often unaware of the primary site, something which has been well documented in cases with nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Thyroid cancer, which is a more prevalent type of cancer especially among women, is often found by cervical metastases, and it has been called occult thyroid carcinoma. The swelling of the left subclavian lymph node (the Virchow node) sometimes proceeds the detection of primary intra-abdominal cancers. Moreover, approximately 10% of head and neck malignancies are reported to be malignant lymphoma. As in the ‘Clinical Practice Guideline: Evaluation of the Neck Mass in Adults’, clinicians have to list tons of differential diagnoses in treating patients with neck masses.

In dealing with metastatic cervical carcinomas, we have traditionally utilized the surgical approach, so-called neck dissection. Recently, from the point of view of quality of life, several modified procedures have been invented, called selective neck dissections. Thanks to the advances of anticancer drugs, radiotherapy, and diagnostic imaging, neck dissection can be replaced by chemoradiotherapy and follow-up imaging strategies in some cases. In 2016, Mehanna et al. reported that PET-CT surveillance could do away with the necessity of planned neck dissection in advanced head and neck cancer, something which can occur sooner than we think based on the rapid progress of immune checkpoint inhibitors.

This Special Issue of Medicina entitled “Metastatic Head and Neck Malignancy” welcomes submissions of clinical original articles, as well as systematic reviews, meta-analyses, and overviews related to head and neck cancer or thyroid cancer with cervical and/or distant metastasis, cervical metastasis from the distant organ, and cervical carcinomas with unknown primary (CUP) and malignant lymphoma with an initial symptom in a head and neck lesion. This issue also invites articles about diagnostic assessment of the etiology unknown neck masses.

Dr. Shogo Shinohara
Guest Editor

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• Cervical metastasis
• Distant metastasis
• Neck mass
• Oral cancer
• Nasopharyngeal cancer
• Hypopharyngeal cancer
• Oropharyngeal cancer
• Laryngeal cancer
• Esophageal cancer
• Thyroid cancer
• Carcinoma with an unknown primary
• Malignant lymphoma
• Neck dissection
• Chemoradiotherapy
• Immune checkpoint inhibitor