Alterations in Head and Neck Cancer Occurring in HIV-infected Patients: Results of a Pilot, Longitudinal, Prospective Study

Abstract

To assess the impact of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection on the presentation and course of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC), we performed a pilot, prospective, longitudinal study of all patients with HNSCC presenting to our institutions over a 6-month period (n=10). A 60% incidence of HIV infection was seen in this study population, with SCC presenting as the initial manifestation of HIV infection in 2 of the 6 patients. In addition, HIV-infected patients were significantly younger than non-infected patients at (p=0.01). None of the HIV-infected patients had acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) at the time of presentation, but 5 of 6 patients had an abnormal CD4 count, compared to none of the non-infected patients (p