Efficacy of nanomaterials in the treatment of head and neck cancer: a systematic review

The prevalence of head and neck cancer is increasing, raising concerns regarding the rate of recovery, recurrence, and aggressive surgical approaches that have negatively impacted patient welfare. In this context, nanomedicine has emerged as a promising alternative, offering a progressive therapeutic approach with enhanced efficacy and improved outcomes. This systematic review aims to evaluate studies employing nanomaterials as carriers for chemotherapeutic agents, providing evidence-based insights and synthesizing the available data into a comprehensive analysis. In this systematic review, 14 preclinical original research articles were included using animal models and subjected to experimental methods quality evaluation. The findings demonstrated widespread use of nanomaterial-based chemotherapeutic delivery systems, with several studies reporting improved antitumor outcomes, reduced toxicity, and decreased metastatic potential compared with conventional approaches. However, these findings were interpreted cautiously, as differences in dosing strategies across studies may have influenced treatment comparisons. Overall, the available evidence provides valuable insight into the current state of nanomaterial-based chemotherapeutic delivery and its potential translation into a viable strategy for addressing multidrug-resistant carcinomas, while enabling dose reduction and ultimately improving patient outcomes and welfare. Nevertheless, studies investigating alternative nanomedicine delivery routes remains limited. This highly innovative approach warrants urgent investigation, with particular focus on safety and efficacy of this new form of therapy, to better understand its potential as an alternative therapeutic strategy.