Radiation Therapy for Head and Neck Cancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kate Newbold and Shreerang A Bhide

INTRODUCTION Radiotherapy (RT) is an extremely effective treatment for head and neck cancer, as a primary modality and as an adjuvant treatment following surgery. In early-stage disease, single modality radical RT can cure >90% of cancers in some tumor subsites (e.g., larynx) (1). In more advanced-stage diseases, RT is usually used in combination with cisplatin chemotherapy, either as radical chemoradiotherapy (2,3) or in an adjunctive fashion after ablative surgery (4).