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Locally advanced oral cavity squamous cell carcinoma (OCSCC) presents a significant challenge, with survival rates remaining poor despite advances in surgical technique and chemoradiation. While induction chemotherapy has historically failed to demonstrate a clear survival benefit, the emergence of neoadjuvant immunotherapy and chemoimmunotherapy has opened new avenues for investigation. There is now a rapidly growing focus on the potential for neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy to improve survival for locally advanced OCSCC. Moreover, neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy holds the potential to reduce preoperative tumor burden, potentially allowing for a response-adapted surgery that optimizes postoperative quality of life while maintaining oncologic safety. Despite these promising early findings, data are heterogeneous and randomized controlled trials are lacking. This narrative review provides an overview and interpretation of current data as it relates to the role of neoadjuvant chemotherapy and immunotherapy to improve survival and postoperative function for locally advanced OCSCC, highlighting the need for standardized protocols and additional trials.
Harris et al. (Fri,) studied this question.