The complexity of head and neck cancers (HNC) mandates a multidisciplinary approach and radiation therapy (RT) plays a critical role in the optimal management of patients with HNC, either as frontline or adjuvant treatment postoperatively. The advent of both definitive and post-operative RT has significantly improved the outcomes of patients with HNC. Herein, we discuss the role of postoperative RT in different subtypes of HNC, its side effects, and the importance of surveillance. The treatment regions discussed in this paper are the oral cavity, nasopharynx, paranasal sinus cavity, oropharynx, larynx and hypopharynx. Multiple studies that demonstrate the importance of definitive and/or postoperative RT, which led to an improved outlook of survival for HNC patients will be discussed.

Review Article Utilization of model-agnostic explainable artificial intelligence frameworks in oncology: a narrative review Colton Ladbury, Reza Zarinshenas, Hemal Semwal, Andrew Tam, Nagarajan Vaidehi, Andrei S. Rodin, An Liu, Scott Glaser, Ravi Salgia, Arya Amini

The goal of oncology is to provide the longest possible survival outcomes with the therapeutics that are currently available without sacrificing patients' quality of life. In lung cancer, several data points over a patient's diagnostic and treatment course are relevant to optimizing outcomes in the form of precision medicine, and artificial intelligence (AI) provides the opportunity to use available data from molecular information to radiomics, in combination with patient and tumor characteristics, to help clinicians provide individualized care. In doing so, AI can help create models to identify cancer early in diagnosis and deliver tailored therapy on the basis of available information, both at the time of diagnosis and in real time as they are undergoing treatment. The purpose of this review is to summarize the current literature in AI specific to lung cancer and how it applies to the multidisciplinary team taking care of these complex patients.

Lung cancer continues to be one of the most prevalent malignancies worldwide and is the leading cause of death in both men and women. Presently, local control rates are quite poor. Improvements in imaging and radiation treatment delivery systems however have provided radiation oncologists with new tools to better target these tumors. Stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) is one such technique that has shown efficacy as upfront treatment for lung cancer. In addition, more recent studies have demonstrated some effectiveness in recurrent tumors in prior irradiated fields as well. This review summarizes seven recent studies of re-irradiation with SBRT in patients with thoracic recurrences treated previously with conventionally fractionated radiation therapy. Combined, 140 patients were included. The median initial thoracic radiation doses ranged from 50-87.5 Gy and median re-irradiation dose ranged from 40-80 Gy. Local control rates varied from 65-92%. Re-irradiation was well tolerated with few grade 4 and 5 complications (observed in one study). Currently, based on these published reports, re-irradiation with SBRT appears feasible for in-field thoracic recurrences, though caution must be taken in all cases of retreatment.