Limiting radiation to major salivary glands in head and neck cancer patients

Avoiding the contralateral submandibular gland during radiation therapy is feasible and safe with advanced stage, node positive head and neck cancers and base of tongue lesions, according to research presented at the 2014 Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium.Researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of 71 patients from two facilities - the University of Colorado Cancer Center and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. The median patient age was 55, and about 50 percent of the patients were current or former smokers.