Treatment‐Related Adverse Events and Health‐Related Quality of Life Associated With Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor Treatment for Mucosal Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Scoping Review

ABSTRACT Background Supportive care needs of patients receiving immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) are ill‐defined. Hence, known treatment‐related adverse events (TRAEs) and health‐related quality of life (HRQoL) associated with ICI treatment for HNSCC were examined to inform future supportive care services. Methods Scoping review including 98 studies. Results Moderate–severe TRAEs occurred at 40% of studies, with most symptoms occurring during treatment. ICI monotherapy had less reported toxicity than multimodality treatments. Adding ICIs to multimodality treatment creates a minimal increase in TRAEs. HRQoL scores were low, with little change during ICI treatment. Conclusions ICIs for HNSCC are generally well tolerated; however, TRAEs are common and may carry long‐term functional consequences. Flexible supportive care pathways are needed to assist early detection and individualized management of functional impacts to optimize survivorship.