management of oropharyngeal squamous carcinoma

Last edited 12/2018

Squamous carcinomas of oropharynx

T1-2 N0 tumours of the oropharynx.

  • the choice of transoral surgical resection or primary radiotherapy should be offered
  • postoperative radiotherapy, with or without concomitant chemotherapy, should be considered if pathologically adverse risk factors have been identified.

Human pavillomavirus-related disease

  • if squamous cell carcinomas of the oropharynx then test using p16 immunohistochemistry
    • p16 test result should be considered as positive only if there is strong nuclear and cytoplasmic staining in more than 70% of tumour cells
    • high-risk HPV DNA or RNA in-situ hybridisation should be considered in all p16-positive cancers of the oropharynx to confirm HPV status.

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