New Challenges in Evaluating Outcomes after Immunotherapy in Recurrent and/or Metastatic Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Abstract

In many recurrent and/or metastatic cancers, the advent of immunotherapy opens up new scenarios of treatment response, with new phenomena, such as pseudoprogression and hyper-progression. Because of this, different immune-related response criteria have been developed, and new therapeutic strategies adopted, such as treatment beyond progression. Moreover, the role of progression-free survival as a surrogate has been questioned, and new surrogate endpoint hypotheses have arisen. A proper understanding of radiological imaging, an assessment of the biological events triggered by therapy, and the clinical evolution of the lesions and of the patient performance status are all factors that should be considered to guide the oncologist’s treatment choice. The primary aim of this article is to discuss how all these concepts apply to recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients when treated with immunotherapy.