How do you manage early stage tonsil SCC treated by simple tonsillectomy alone?
Provided that staging PET/CT showed no residual disease or neck involvement, would you recommend completion surgery and neck dissection? Or do you view the tonsillectomy as a biopsy and treat the tonsil and undissected neck with RT to a postop or definitive dose (i.e. 60Gy v. 66-70Gy)?
1 Answer
Mednet MemberInvited Expert
Radiation Oncology · UTMB
Answered on
A simple tonsillectomy is not an oncologically curative surgical procedure. It is analogous to an excision biopsy. Historically, definitive RT was the logical next step for a cN0-1 neck in the setting of an early stage primary & with excellent results (Garden et al from MDACC, & others). A good outc...
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