Throughout the world, head and neck cancer is a major threat to public
health and a significant challenge to both clinicians and basic
scientists. Despite extensive efforts in primary prevention, screening,
early detection, and therapy, long-term survival rates have not improved
substantially in the last three decades. This book covers a wide range
of exciting new findings in both clinical and basic sciences as they are
relevant to head and neck cancer. These findings have recently enhanced
our understanding of head and neck carcinogenesis at the genetic and
molecular levels, offering the promise of improved preventive and
therapeutic strategies. This book will also present information on the
important clinical advances that have been made in chemoprevention,
organ preservation, and the simultaneous use of chemo- therapy and
radiotherapy. The first part provides an overview of the etiology and
biology of head and neck cancer, including an examination of human
papillomaviruses in both benign and malignant lesions. This section also
discusses the carcinogenic process at the genetic and molecular levels,
as well as aberrant squamous differentiation; increased understanding of
these areas has great potential to translate into new strategies for
cancer prevention. The second part describes recent advances in
developing a risk model for head and neck cancer, as well as the
application of genetic susceptibility data in chemoprevention. This
section also includes overviews of the status of chemoprevention trials
and of the process of invasion and metastasis in head and neck cancer.
