Treatment of recurrent oropharyngeal cancer may include the following:

• Surgery if radiation therapy did not remove all the cancer.
• Radiation therapy (if not previously used) or additional surgery if the first surgery did not remove all the cancer.
• A clinical trial of chemotherapy.
• A clinical trial of hyperthermia therapy with radiation therapy.

Following treatment, it is important to have careful head and neck examinations to look for recurrence. Check ups will be done monthly in the first year, every 2 months in the second year, every 3 months in the third year, and every 6 months thereafter.

This summary section refers to specific treatments under study in clinical trials, but it may not mention every new treatment being studied. Information about ongoing clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.

Check for clinical trials from NCI's PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry that are now accepting patients with recurrent oropharyngeal cancer.

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