HPV-driven cancers have significantly better survival than traditional head and neck cancers.
Current treatments are reassessed to develop less toxic strategies with good oncological outcomes.
Treatment de-escalation raises issues such as patient selection and the benefit/risk balance.
Rigorously constructed trials leading to specific management for HPV-driven OPSCCs are mandatory.
HPV-driven oropharyngeal cancers have significantly better survival rates than tobacco and alcohol induced head and neck cancers. As HPV-positive patients are younger, healthier and far more likely to survive their disease, long-term treatment side effects are becoming a major issue. This has led the scientific and medical community to reassess the current treatment protocols in order to develop less toxic strategies while maintaining good oncological outcomes. In this article, we discuss the ongoing treatment de-escalation trials and highlight the issues raised by these studies.