Assessing survival in recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer patients after radiotherapy with/without targeted molecular therapy: A concise systematic review.

This systematic review evaluates the outcomes of different radiotherapeutic strategies in the management of head and neck cancers (HNCs), including curative-intent radiotherapy (RT), palliative stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT), multimodal approaches combining surgery and RT, and immunotherapy-based combinations.A structured literature search was conducted using 4 electronic databases - PubMed, BioMed Central (BMC), Scopus, and Ovid - to identify studies relevant to RT for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), with a focus on the Quad Shot regimen and other hypofractionated approaches. The search strategy included keywords such as "palliative radiotherapy", "head and neck cancer", "Quad Shot", "hypofractionated RT", and "recurrent HNSCC", and was limited to studies published in English up to March 2025.Fourteen studies were included in this systematic review, comprising a total of 26,734 patients. Curative RT demonstrated favorable outcomes in large cohorts, particularly in terms of overall survival (OS) and local control (LC). Palliative SBRT regimens provided substantial symptomatic relief and disease control with minimal toxicity among elderly and inoperable patients.Multimodal treatment options yielded the most promising survival outcomes, particularly in patients with early-stage disease. Furthermore, the combination of immunotherapy and RT showed potential synergistic effects, improving both OS and progression-free survival (PFS).