Best Prevention Early Detection Paper 

Winner: Heidi Kletzien, MD
Institution: University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health
Manuscript Title: “The Post-Thyroidectomy Voice: The Disconnect Between Patient-Perceived Voice Changes and Quantitative Voice Measures in the First Postoperative Year”

Best Resident Basic Science Paper 

Winner: Farshad Chowdury, MD
Institution: University of Colorado, Denver
Manuscript Title: “Invasive Front Or Tumor Core: Cancer Stem Cell Location And Correlations With Cellular Behavior And Patient Outcome”

Robert Maxwell Byers Award

Winner: Caitlin P. McMullen, MD
Institution: Moffitt Cancer Center
Manuscript Title: “Occult nodal disease and occult extranodal extension in oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma patients undergoing primary TORS with neck dissection”

Best Resident Clinical Award

Winner: Patrick Carpenter, MD
Institution: The University of Utah School of Medicine
Manuscript Title: “Celecoxib Decreases Acute Postoperative Opioid Requirements after Head and Neck Reconstruction with Free Tissue Transfer: A Matched-Cohort Study”

Best Prevention Early Detection Paper Award 

Winner:  Chwee Ming Lim, MD
Institution: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, National University Health System Singapore
Manuscript Title:  Real time near-infrared auto-fluorescence Raman spectroscopy system in the surveillance of patients with nasopharyngeal cancer

Robert Maxwell Byer Award

Winner:  Chang-Han Chen, PhD
Institution: Institute for Translational Research in Biomedicine, Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital
Manuscript Title:  Angiotensin II type 1 receptor contributes to malignant progression in oral squamous cell carcinoma through modulation of FUI0540/S100A9 signaling

Best Resident Basic Science Award

Winner:  Moran Amit, MD
Institution: The Laboratory for Applied Cancer Research, Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, The Technion, Israel Institute of Technology
Manuscript Title:  Thyroid cancer response to radioiodine treatment is post-translationally regulated

Best Resident Clinical Award

Winner:  Michelle Chen, MD
Institution: Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Stanford University
Manuscript Title:  Post-operative radiation therapy associated with improved survival in Nl oral cavity and oropharyngeal cancer patients

Click on the link to read document:

Position Statement on Human Papillomavirus (HPV) Vaccination for Prevention of HPV-Related Oropharyngeal Cancer

THE AMERICAN HEAD AND NECK SOCIETY PROUDLY ANNOUNCES THEIR 2016 FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM MATCH RESULTS. CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE.

HEAD & NECK FELLOWSHIPS
Beth Israel Medical Center Cleveland Clinic Foundation Emory University Indiana University School of Medicine Johns Hopkins University Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary/Harvard Medical School MD Anderson Cancer Center     Medical University of South Carolina   Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center   Mt. Sinai School of Medicine Ohio State University Oregon Health & Science University Roswell Park Cancer Institute Stanford University Medical Center Thomas Jefferson University University of Alabama – Birmingham University of Alberta University of California – Davis University of California – San Francisco University of Cincinnati Medical Center University of Iowa University of Kansas School of Medicine University of Miami   University of Michigan   University of Nebraska Medical Center University of Oklahoma University of Pennsylvania Health System   University of Pittsburgh Medical Center     University of Toronto     University of Washington Vanderbilt University   Washington University at St. Louis	Ansley Roche Ryan Winters Andres Bur David Hernandez Christopher Britt Heather Osborn Ashley Mays Samantha Tam Marietta Tan Evan Graboyes Suhael Momin Julianna Pesce Zafar Sayed Daniel Kwon Antoine Eskandar Jay Ferrell Mariangela Rivera Ryan Orosco John Gleysteen Erin Partington Fawaz Makki Orly Coblens Jon Mallen St. Clair Hafiz Patwa Christopher Kandl Thomas O’Toole Deepa Danan Mark Swanson Tiffany Glazer Brittny Tillman Eugene Son Angela Osmolak Karthik Rajasekaran Punam Thakkar Daniel Faden Michael Persky Jessica Somerville Lenka Stankova Peter Vosler Han Zhang Richard Cannon Shethal Bearelly Alice Tang James Martin Jamie Segel
ENDOCRINE FELLOWSHIPS
Georgia Regents University Massachusetts Eye & Ear Infirmary/Harvard Medical School Pennsylvania State University	Seth Kay Bradley Lawson Elizabeth Cottrill

August 5, 2014

AHNS Response to USPSTF recommendation for screening of oral and oropharyngeal cancer

The AHNS is in agreement with the recent statement by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force regarding screening for oral cancer. The USPSTF “found no new good-quality evidence that screening for oral cancer leads to improved health outcomes for either high-risk adults (i.e., those over the age of 50 who use tobacco) or for average-risk adults in the general population… There is also no new evidence for the harms of screening. As a result, the USPSTF could not determine the balance between benefits and harms of screening for oral cancer.” (http://www.uspreventiveservicestaskforce.org/3rduspstf/oralcan/oralcanrs.htm)

Current research regarding screening for head and neck cancers has focused on screening for oral cancers and oropharyngeal cancers. Oral cancers are located in the mouth, tongue, lips, gums, inside the cheek, and hard palate, and are often associated with smoking and alcohol use. Oropharyngeal cancers are cancers of the back or base of the tongue and tonsils, and are associated high risk human papilloma virus (HPV) and marijuana use, as well as smoking and alcohol use.¹

In addition to this recent USPSTF recommendation, the AHNS supports the routine physical exam screening for oral and oropharyngeal cancers in a primary care setting as a part of routine examination. This performance of an oral and oropharyngeal physical examination and screening for disease is a part of a routine standard exam for primary dental and medical providers. The current standard of care examination represents ongoing opportunistic screening that may allow detection of early stage disease and may decrease oral and oropharyngeal cancer morbidity and mortality.² Furthermore, the AHNS advocates the performance of a comprehensive oral and head and neck exam, particularly in symptomatic or at risk indviduals as the best known method of detecting oral and oropharyngeal cancers.

Secondly, the dramatic increase in incidence of HPV associated oropharyngeal cancers is evidence of an emerging epidemic. Primary prevention of HPV infection through vaccination has been shown to have an efficacy of 91-98% against persistent HPV 16/18 infection and the development of premalignant lesions in the cervix. Current FDA recommendations include use of the HPV vaccine for males age 9-26 years for genital wart prevention, but the efficacy of this vaccine for prevention of oropharyngeal cancer is undetermined. However, a recent randomized controlled trial of HPV vaccination in Costa Rica demonstrated a 93.3% vaccine efficacy when compared to the control

group at preventing persistent oral infection.³ The AHNS supports HPV vaccination of both sexes as approved by the FDA and actively supports efforts to improve vaccination rates in the US population.
Screening campaigns are not only important for disease detection but also for educating patients about the risk factors, and early signs and symptoms for head and neck cancer. Although smoking and alcohol are known risk factors, public awareness with regards to smokeless tobacco and HPV risk factors including marijuana use are very low. Hence, the AHNS supports screening campaigns for head and neck cancer in part for their additional educational value.
The AHNS also finds no new good quality definitive evidence supporting population based screening for other head and neck cancers in asymptomatic, otherwise healthy individuals by physical examination, laboratory, imaging, or other testing modalities. The AHNS agrees with the USPSTF analysis that the use of salivary HPV DNA detection assays to screen for oropharyngeal cancer in asymptomatic otherwise healthy individuals is not supported, given the high rate of salivary HPV DNA detection in the general population.⁴

Finally the AHNS concurs that there is a significant knowledge gap regarding useful screening techniques for tobacco and HPV related oral and oropharynx cancers including physical exam based and adjunctive tests. The AHNS supports additional research and resources dedicating to eliminating these knowledge gaps.

1. Gillison ML(1), D’Souza G, Westra W, Sugar E, Xiao W, Begum S, Viscidi R J Natl Cancer Inst. 2008 Mar 19;100(6):407-20. Distinct risk factor profiles for human papillomavirus type 16-positive and humanpapillomavirus type 16-negative head and neck cancers.
2. Speight PM, Palmer S, Moles DR, et al. The cost-effectiveness of screening for oral cancer in primary care. Health Technology Assessment. 2006;10(14):1-144.\
3. Herrero R, Quint W, Hildesheim A, Gonzalez P, Struijk L, Katki HA, Porras C,
   Schiffman M, Rodriguez AC, Solomon D, Jimenez S, Schiller JT, Lowy DR, van Doorn LJ, Wacholder S, Kreimer AR; CVT Vaccine Group. Reduced prevalence of oral human papillomavirus (HPV) 4 years after bivalent HPV vaccination in a randomized clinical trial in Costa Rica. PLoS One. 2013 Jul 17;8(7):e68329. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068329. Print 2013.
4. Gillison et al. JAMA. 2012 Feb 15;307(7):693-703.doi:10.1001/jama.2012.101. Epub 2012 Jan 26 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22282321