Integrating neoadjuvant immunotherapy in head and neck cancer care
This forum brought together multidisciplinary cancer care teams to build capability in the safe and effective integration of neoadjuvant immunotherapy for head and neck cancers. Participants explored emerging evidence, patient selection, treatment sequencing and toxicity management to support coordinated decision-making and greater consistency in clinical practice.
At a glance
Duration
Approximately 1 hour 30 minutes, divided into sections that you can return to at any time.
Originally held
Thursday 23 July 2026, Science Gallery Melbourne, and online via Zoom.
Who this is for
Head and neck surgeons, medical and radiation oncologists, cancer nurses, allied health and other clinicians involved in the care of patients with resectable head and neck cancer
Sessions
Chapter markers are built into the player — use the progress bar to move between sections, or select a session below to open that point on YouTube in a new tab.
Prof Ben Dixon opens the forum, setting out how quickly immunotherapy has moved from cutaneous into mucosal head and neck cancer now that these protocols are PBS listed, and why services will need to work through implementation collectively rather than waiting for established practice to emerge.
4:21 Dr Alesha Thai — the evidence for neoadjuvant immunotherapy
Traces immunotherapy from early immune-stimulation experiments through the discovery of the immune checkpoint to its establishment in recurrent and metastatic disease, then the disappointing chemoradiotherapy combinations that preceded the two positive 2025 trials. Covers the design and results of KEYNOTE-689 and NIVOPOSTOP, their differing patterns of relapse reduction, the PD-L1 question, and what each paradigm asks of a service in treatment duration, toxicity and care coordination.
25:44 A/Prof Martin Batstone — the surgical perspective
The view from a KEYNOTE-689 trial site: recruitment challenges, the trial workflow and the streamlined pathway now in use post-listing, illustrated with a worked case. Presents surgical data on margins, downstaging, perioperative mortality and length of stay, evidence that benefit extends well beyond patients whose tumours visibly shrink, and guidance on the MDT's role, contraindications and case selection — including an example of a patient for whom neoadjuvant treatment was the wrong choice.
48:00 Panel discussion and case presentations
Opens with PD-L1 CPS — what the score measures, how it is derived, and the practical problem of testing access and turnaround times across Victoria. The panel then works through three cases: a hypopharyngeal carcinoma with a response dramatic enough to reopen the question of laryngectomy; an oral tongue cancer that progressed during treatment and the consequences that followed; and a buccal mucosa tumour with a major pathological response, raising the question of whether adjuvant radiotherapy can be reduced.
1:20:16 Audience Q&A
Questions from the room and online: using the neoadjuvant window for prehabilitation and nutritional optimisation; how to interpret survival curves that are not yet mature; whether resection margins should be reduced when a tumour responds, and why the pattern of response makes that difficult; and whether toxicity has prevented any patient reaching surgery.
Chair
Prof Ben Dixon
Head and neck cancer lead, VCCC Alliance; Director/Head of Unit, ENT Head & Neck department, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne; Garnett Passe & Rodney Williams Professor of Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery, University of Melbourne
Prof Dixon is an ENT Surgeon specialising in Head and Neck Oncology and Skull Base Surgery. He completed his FRACS in Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery in Victoria. Following this, he spent two years at the University of Toronto undertaking a fellowship in Head and Neck Oncology, Endoscopic Skull Base Surgery, Microvascular Reconstruction and Thyroid Surgery. After further training in Transoral Robotic Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania he established the TORS program at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.
Speakers
Dr Alesha Thai
Medical Oncologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Austin Health
Dr Thai's research investigates the interplay between the tumour microenvironment, the host immune system, and viral causes of head and neck cancer. She places a strong emphasis on improving disparities in patient care, especially for patients from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
A/Prof Martin Batstone
Director of the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital Maxillofacial Unit
A/Prof Batstone completed his Medical and Dental degrees at the University of Queensland and was a graduate of the Queensland Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery training program. This was followed by three years of additional training in Head and Neck Cancer Surgery in Liverpool in the UK, culminating in a Fellowship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He practises the whole scope of oral and maxillofacial surgery with a special interest in head and neck cancer and reconstructive surgery.
Panellists
Dr Kevin Nguyen
ENT Surgeon, The Royal Melbourne Hospital, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Eastern Health
Dr Tsien Fua
Head and Neck Radiation Oncologist, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
This event is supported by our partner
Resource details
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