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Background: While other otolaryngology subspecialties have established female authorship trends, there is no comprehensive study within head and neck surgery (HNS)., Methods: Five researchers recorded the gender identity of first and senior authors from HNS subspecialty papers (head and neck oncology, endocrine surgery, salivary gland pathology, and microsurgery) derived from 10 journals in otolaryngology and oncology in the years 2013, 2016, 2019, and 2022., Results: From 3457 articles, 6901 unique author identities were analyzed. Female authors represented 32% (N = 1103) of first authors and 20% (N = 690) of senior authors. Female authors were less likely to publish in microvascular and reconstructive surgery. Senior female authors were more likely to publish in higher impact journals than male senior authors, and first female authors had an increased likelihood of funding compared to their male counterparts., Conclusions: While female authors remain underrepresented in certain literature, we illustrate promising trends in productivity, funding allocation, and impact., (© 2024 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Purpose: Multidisciplinary care (MDC) meetings improve the quality of cancer care by providing a space for interdisciplinary communication. The Pediatric Oncology Facility Integrated Local Evaluation (PrOFILE) tool assesses MDC meetings as part of the Service Integration module. We aimed to evaluate the characteristics of MDC meetings at institutions that completed PrOFILE., Methods: From 2019 to 2021, 112 institutions from 23 countries collected data by utilizing the abbreviated version of PrOFILE. Within a secondary data analysis, we descriptively analyzed the characteristics of MDC meetings stratified by income level., Results: Participating institutions were located in low-income countries (LICs) (n = 6), lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) (n = 34), upper-middle-income countries (UMICs) (n = 55), and high-income countries (HICs) (n = 17). Of the 112 participating facilities, 79% reported having MDC meetings. The existence of an MDC varied with income, with 50% of LICs and 100% of HICs hosting MDCs. The frequency of MDC meetings also differed, with 100% of MDCs in LICs occurring weekly, while 53% of MDCs in HICs occurred monthly. Specialties regularly represented at MDC meetings across all participating institutions were hematology/oncology (93%), pathology (52%), radiology (60%), general surgery (57%), and radiation oncology (51%). All MDC meetings in LICs reported representation from these specialties. Availability of test results and discussion of new cases did not vary with income. Residual disparities were identified for the following characteristics: discussion of new and interesting cases, inclusion of patient preferences, and ability to meet urgently., Conclusions: The existence and components of a functional MDC meeting may vary between countries' income levels. Variation in certain components, such as access to tests, may be due to differences in resource distribution, but other factors such as inclusion of patient preferences and ability to meet urgently can be optimized in all settings to foster high-quality teamwork and communication., (© 2024 The Author(s). Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: De-escalation strategies for newly-diagnosed p16-positive oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (p16+ OPSCC), aim to reduce treatment-related morbidity without compromising disease control. One strategy is neoadjuvant cisplatin and docetaxel chemotherapy (NAC + S) before transoral robotic surgery, with pathology-based risk-adapted adjuvant treatment., Methods: We examined the recurrence-free survival (RFS) for patients who received NAC + S., Results: Comparing outcomes in 103 patients between 2008 and 2023, 92% avoided adjuvant treatment and showed significantly higher 2-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) compared to those with adjuvant treatment (95.9% vs. 43.8%, p = 0.0049) CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that pathology-based risk-adapted omission of adjuvant treatment following NAC + S does not appear to elevate recurrence risk and that NAC may identify patients with favorable tumor biology, yielding a 2-year RFS probability exceeding 95% without adjuvant treatment. Further, the study identifies a patient subset experiencing disease recurrence despite triple modality therapy. Despite limitations, including a retrospective design and modest sample size, the data advocate for controlled NAC + S studies., (© 2024 The Authors. Cancer Medicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA.)

Objectives: Surgical subspecialties rank among the least racially and gender diverse of the medical specialties. The purpose of this systematic review is to evaluate the current factors that influence female, gender and sexual minority (GSM), and underrepresented in medicine (URiM)-identifying medical students' decision to pursue a career in a surgical subspecialty., Data Sources: A structured literature search of PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Medline was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Criteria for eligibility included surveys and interviews assessing factors and barriers influencing underrepresented medical students' career choices., Review Methods: Two independent researchers screened the articles' titles and abstracts for relevance; three performed full-text reviews., Results: Of 343 studies identified, 17 met the inclusion criteria. Fourteen (82%) were survey-based studies; three (18%) were qualitative interviews. Represented minorities included females (14), URiM (13), and GSM (4). Female medical students were most influenced by (1) exposure to surgery, (2) mentorship, and (3) surgical lifestyle. URiM medical students were most influenced by (1) mentorship, (2) culture and diversity, (3) research opportunities, and (4) personality fit. GSM medical students were most influenced by identity acceptance and instances of discrimination and bias., Conclusions: Our review provides granular data on positive and negative factors influencing career choice among underrepresented medical students to facilitate the development of a more diverse surgical workforce. Female medical students were more positively influenced by increased exposure to surgical subspecialties, whereas URiM medical students were more positively influenced by race-concordant mentorship. Laryngoscope, 134:1498-1506, 2024., (© 2023 The American Laryngological, Rhinological and Otological Society, Inc.)

Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.