A Review of Contemporary Image Guidance Techniques in Head and Neck Cancer

Background: Traditional head and neck cancer treatment involves open surgery, cytotoxic chemotherapy, and conventional radiotherapy planning. Emerging techniques aim to improve precision and reduce associated toxicity and functional impairment in current practice. This review article describes four such adaptations in image guidance, tailored to next generation therapies.

Methods: This is a review of current literature, including feasibility studies from our cancer center, relating to: saline-aided intra-oral ultrasound-guided retropharyngeal biopsy; intra-oral ultrasound guided trans-oral robotic surgery (TORS); ultrasound-guided injection of "directly injected therapies"; and magnetic resonance imaging-guided radiotherapy.

Results: Presented within the context of the wider literature, initial local experience and data indicate good technical outcomes and patient tolerance, and low technical complications in all four image guidance techniques.

Conclusion: Initial findings suggest a potentially important future role for these four image guidance techniques, on which next generation therapies are reliant. The broader implications on cross-disciplinary collaboration are also explored herein.