HPV-associated Head and Neck Cancer: An Epidemiologic Challenge with Preventive Possibilities

Cancers of the Head and Neck (HNC) comprise approximately four percent of all solid tumors. American Cancer Society (ACS) statistics for 2014 has estimated 42,440 new cases of oral and oropharyngeal cancer, which are the most likely to harbor the Human Papillomavirus (HPV), [1]. Eighty to ninety percent are squamous cell histology with the remainder comprised of adenocarcinoma, muco-epidermoid, and adenoid cystic histologies; these latter types are seen mostly in salivary glands. Thyroid tumors are typically considered separately as an endocrine tumor and managed differently. Tumors of the brain and central nervous system and lymphomas of the head and neck are also considered separately. With those exclusions, the common anatomic sites of HNC include the oral cavity, nasal cavity, and pharyngeal cavity with sub-sites defined for nasopharynx, oropharynx, and hypopharynx, and the laryngeal-epigottic region (considered part of the hypo-pharynx).