Advanced techniques in radiation therapy for head and neck cancers.

This article focuses on a number of innovative radiotherapeutic methods to improve local and regional control with increased chances of preservation of normal function compared with the use of standard external beam irradiation alone in the management of selected head and neck cancers. Some of these radiotherapeutic techniques are well established (brachytherapy and neutron therapy in advanced salivary gland tumors); some have a large body of experience accumulated and are currently being investigated in phase III trials (thermoradiotherapy and altered fractionation); whereas the other techniques (intraoperative therapy, charged-particle therapy, and sterotactic radiosurgery) are highly experimental.