Foreword

Article Outline

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In this issue of Current Problems in Surgery Drs. Duvvuri and Myers at the M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas have written an authoritative article on the treatment of oropharyngeal carcinomas. This set of malignancies, formerly attributed to the use of alcohol and tobacco products, has increased in incidence due to infection with the human papilloma virus. Radiotherapy, combined with chemotherapy, is usually the first line therapy in most patients with surgical resection reserved for patients with residual or recurrent disease. The sequencing of the multimodality therapy in these patients is an active area of clinical research. This is an excellent article, which discusses the state of the art treatment of patients with this increasingly common malignancy.