Educational content on VJOncology is intended for healthcare professionals only. By visiting this website and accessing this information you confirm that you are a healthcare professional.

Share this video  

ESMO 2026 | The limits of ctDNA in guiding treatment decisions in head and neck cancer

Jean-Pascal Machiels, MD, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium, discusses the current limitations of using circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) to guide treatment decisions in head and neck data, noting that even patients who clear ctDNA can still relapse, and therefore de-intensification of treatment based on ctDNA clearance alone is not recommended. A positive ctDNA result may indicate a worse prognosis and could be a reason to intensify treatment. This interview took place at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) 2026 Congress in Madrid, Spain.

These works are owned by Magdalen Medical Publishing (MMP) and are protected by copyright laws and treaties around the world. All rights are reserved.

Transcript

I think no. No, today with the data that we have. Because here it was just the trial is done and you just do a correlation. But you are not sure that the patient that clears ctDNA doesn’t need the adjuvant treatment that we gave to this patient today. So I will not dare to do that today. If the patient clears CT DNA, I will not dare to de-intensify with this kind of data...

I think no. No, today with the data that we have. Because here it was just the trial is done and you just do a correlation. But you are not sure that the patient that clears ctDNA doesn’t need the adjuvant treatment that we gave to this patient today. So I will not dare to do that today. If the patient clears CT DNA, I will not dare to de-intensify with this kind of data. Because be aware that if you look carefully at the curve, around 40% of the patients that clear CT DNA still relapse. So I will be extremely careful with the data that we have today to do a de-escalation. The other way around, if you have CT DNA positive, I think your prognosis is worse. It’s probably a reason to intensify the treatment of this patient.

This transcript is AI-generated. While we strive for accuracy, please verify this copy with the video.

Read more...

Choose your cookie settings

VJOncology uses necessary cookies to make the site work. With your permission we'd also like to use analytics, preference and marketing cookies to understand how the site is used and improve it.

Choose an option to continue. You can change it at any time on our Cookie Policy page, linked at the bottom of every page.