Treatment modalities and outcomes of Fanconi anemia patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: Series of 9 cases and review of the literature.

Background: Fanconi anemia (FA) is associated with an increased risk of developing head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) and presents a treatment dilemma due to concerns of increased toxicities from chemotherapy and radiation therapy (RT).
Methods: We reviewed the literature on HNSCC in FA patients and report on our experience treating 9 FA patients with HNSCC.
Results: Surgery was generally well-tolerated and surgery alone resulted in durable local control for 2 patients. Four patients received adjuvant RT that was tolerable in most cases, although 1 patient required a treatment break and early cessation of RT. Three of the irradiated patients received concurrent cetuximab.
Conclusions: In patients with adverse features, adjuvant radiation with concurrent cetuximab may be feasible with careful monitoring, although local disease control is infrequent. Early detection via screening permitting a surgery-alone approach represents the best opportunity for cure in FA patients with HSNCC.
(© 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)