Multidisciplinary Tumor Board Practice to Enhance Treatment Planning, Shared Decision-Making, and AE Management in Locally Advanced HNSCC

The treatment landscape for locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (LA HNSCC) has historically been anchored by surgery, radiation therapy, and chemoradiation. Care for this complex disease requires navigating diverse tumor biology, multiple sites of origin, and significant clinical challenges; patients are frequently diagnosed at advanced stages, facing not only the threat of disease progression but profound impacts on daily functioning and quality of life. With the FDA approval of perioperative immunotherapy for resectable, PD-L1–positive LA HNSCC, checkpoint inhibition has moved beyond the recurrent/metastatic setting into curative-intent care – offering a powerful new opportunity to improve outcomes while preserving the proven foundations of multimodal treatment. Realizing this benefit depends on equipping clinicians and multidisciplinary teams to integrate immunotherapy with confidence: selecting appropriate patients, coordinating perioperative sequencing across specialties, and proactively recognizing and managing immune-related adverse events. Targeted education can strengthen collaborative decision-making, support guideline-concordant care, and ultimately improve the treatment experience and outcomes for individuals living with resectable LA HNSCC.

In this CME Outfitters clinical clues escape room infographic, learners work through a series of interactive puzzles, unlocking each stage by applying evidence-based reasoning to real-world decision points in LA HNSCC. Along the way, participants will select and position perioperative immunotherapy and alternative evidence-based options; evaluate multidisciplinary team coordination by assessing role clarity, communication, and alignment of staging, biomarker assessment, and treatment sequencing across specialties; and recognize, differentiate, and manage treatment-related toxicities arising across perioperative care.

At the conclusion of this activity, learners will be able to better:

• Integrate current evidence and treatment guidelines to appropriately select and position perioperative immunotherapy and alternative evidence-based options for patients with locally advanced resectable HNSCC
• Evaluate multidisciplinary team coordination in perioperative management of locally advanced resectable HNSCC by assessing role clarity, communication, and alignment of staging, biomarker assessment, and treatment sequencing across specialties
• Apply evidence-based approaches to recognize, differentiate, and manage treatment-related toxicities arising across perioperative care for locally advanced resectable HNSCC

This activity is supported through an independent educational grant from Merck & Co., Inc., Rahway, NJ, USA.

Medical oncologists, head/neck surgeons, surgical oncologists, radiation oncologists, radiologists, physician associates (PAs), nurse practitioners (NPs), nurses, and pharmacists

It is the policy of CME Outfitters, LLC, to ensure independence, balance, objectivity, and scientific rigor and integrity in all of their CE activities. Faculty must disclose to the participants any relationships with commercial companies whose products or devices may be mentioned in faculty presentations, or with the commercial supporter of this CE activity. CME Outfitters, LLC, has evaluated, identified, and mitigated any potential conflicts of interest through a rigorous content validation procedure, use of evidence-based data/research, and a multidisciplinary peer review process. The following information is for participant information only. It is not assumed that these relationships will have a negative impact on the presentations.

Dr. Mehra reports the following financial relationships:

Advisory Board: Coherus Oncology; Genmab; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.;
Merus; and Summit Therapeutics Inc.

The following individuals have no financial relationships to disclose:

Rebecca Vargas-Jackson, MD (Peer Reviewer)
Albert Eubanks, Jr., RN (Peer Reviewer)
Keshia Pitt, PhD (Planning Committee)
Taylor Wallace (Planning Committee)
Andrea Perseghin, EdD (Planning Committee)
Sandra Caballero, PharmD (Planning Committee)
Sharon Tordoff (Planning Committee)

*All identified conflicts of interest have been mitigated.

Unlabeled Use Disclosure
Faculty of this CME/CE activity may include discussions of products or devices that are not currently labeled for use by the FDA. The faculty have been informed of their responsibility to disclose to the audience if they will be discussing off-label or investigational uses (any uses not approved by the FDA) of products or devices. CME Outfitters, LLC, the faculty, planners, and reviewers do not endorse the use of any product outside of the FDA labeled indications. Medical professionals should not utilize the procedures, products, or diagnosis techniques discussed during this activity without evaluation of their patient for contraindications or dangers of use.

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