ABSTRACT
The past decade has seen changes in the global trends for head and neck cancers in terms of incidence, etiologic and demographic patterns. Several case-control studies have consistently shown human papillomavirus (HPV) exposure dramatically increases the occurrence of oropharyngeal cancer. HPV related (+) oropharyngeal cancer has been found to be epidemiologically and clinically distinctive disease, characterized by younger age at onset, and strong association with reproductive behavior. The incidence of this disease is increasing sharply worldwide, whilst HPV negative (-) cancers are declining. HPV(+) cancers have significantly better survival and responses to chemoradiation, than HPV(-) counterparts. Given this superior survival, de-escalated therapies and organ preservation surgeries are being considered and on the clinical trial. Currently available prophylactic virus-like particle vaccines might be efficacious for primary prevention of HPV(+) cancers, although not validated yet. More researches are needed for the effective secondary prevention, through the deeper understanding of precancerous, molecular and pathologic changes.