"Epidemisk" ökning av tonsill- och tungbascancer. Förklaringen: parallell ökning av HPV-infektioner
Sammanfattning
The incidence of tonsillar and base of tongue cancer has increased significantly the past 40 years in Sweden and our data from Stockholm suggest that we have an epidemic of human papillomavirus (HPV) associated oropharyngeal cancer. Between 1970-2006, we observed a 7-fold increase of HPV-positive tonsillar cancer, while HPV-negative cancer decreased. The proportion of HPV-positive tonsillar cancer increased from 23% in the 1970s to 93% 2006-2007 and HPV-positive base of tongue cancer increased from 58% 1998-2001 to 84% 2006-2007. Patients with HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer respond better to treatment and fare better than patients with HPV-negative cancer. HPV plays an important role in the increased incidence of tonsillar and tongue base cancer and in the future this should influence both strategies for prevention and the treatment of these tumours.