Benefits of HPV Vaccination

There have been already some indications about the benefit of  HPV vaccination in reducing cancer.

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It is not just cervical cancer occurrence that may be reduced, head and neck cancer rates may benefit in the same way.

The UK is about to extend an HPV  vaccination programme to boys as well as girls.  The large % of head and neck patients that test positively for  HPV infection gives grounds for optimism that the vaccination programme will have a significant impact.

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More Evidence of the Value of Immunotherapy

The annual meeting of the American Society for Clinical Oncology (ASCO) usually presents the findings of studies of great importance for the future treatment of  head and neck cancer patients.

This year the results of a study carried out by the  Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden suggested that immunotherapy was an effective first line treatment. In the UK immunotherapy has usually so far been a treatment of last resort when other treatments had failed. In the study the use of pembrolizumab was examined.

The study revealed clear benefits regarding survival outcomes from the use of immunotherapy as well as fewer side-effects.

Further information is available here