Acknowledgements

• This project was funded by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Health Technology Assessment (HTA) Programme (project number 06/302/129).

Any opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the HTA, NIHR, NHS or the Department of Health.

Aim of the Project

To compare the efficacy of a PET-CT guided watch and wait policy with the current practice of planned neck dissection on overall survival, disease-specific survival, recurrence, quality of life and cost-effectiveness in the management of advanced (N2 or N3) nodal metastasis in patients treated with chemo/radiotherapy (CRT) for their head and neck squamous carcinoma (HNSCC) primary.

Ethical Approval

Oxfordshire REC A

Project Schedule

Start Date: 01/04/2007, End Date: 31/03/2015. The study is now complete and a link to the published results can be found below.

Lead Investigators

Name	Establishment	Role	Speciality
Professor Hisham Mehanna	University of Birmingham	Chief Investigator	Consultant Head-Neck and Thyroid Surgeon & Honorary Professor
Professor Janet Dunn	University of Warwick	Non-clinical Lead applicant	Professor of Clinical Trials and Head of Cancer Trials Deputy Director WMS Clinical Trials Unit
Dr Wai-Lup Wong	Mount Vernon Hospital	Co-applicant	Radiology
Professor Chris Nutting	Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust	Co-applicant	Clinical Oncology
Professor Chris McCabe	University of Leeds	Co-applicant	Health Economics
Professor Ken Maclennan	Leeds General Infirmary	Co-applicant	Histopathology
Mrs Sheila Fisher	University of Leeds	Co-applicant	Maxillofacial Surgery

 

Project team

Name	Establishment	Role
Ms Joy Rahman	University of Warwick	Trial Co-ordinator
Mr Chris McConkey	University of Warwick	Statistician
Mr Dharmesh Patel	University of Warwick	Trial Administrator
Ms June Jones	University of Birmingham	Research Nurse

 

Project collaborators

Head and Neck Centre

Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust

 

Publications/Presentations to Date

Health Technology Assessment Final Report:

PET-NECK: a multicentre randomised Phase III non-inferiority trial comparing a positron emission tomography computerised tomography-guided watch-and-wait policy with planned neck dissection in the management of locally advanced (N2/N3) nodal metastases in patients with squamous cell head and neck cancer

Health Technology Assessment Volume: 21, Issue: 17, Published in April 2017

https://doi.org/10.3310/hta21170 

Publication:

Mehanna et. al, for the PET-NECK Trial Management Group, PET-CT Surveillance versus Neck Dissection in Advanced Head and Neck Cancer | NEJM

New England Journal of Medicine April 2016; 374:1444-1454

DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa1514493

---

PET-NECK: Setting up a collaborative clinical trial in a rare disease site. Society of Clinical Trials, May 2008.

---

PET-NECK: A multi-centre randomised Phase III trial comparing PET-CT guided active surveillance with planned neck dissection in the management of locally advanced HNSCC, CLRN, March 2012

Key people

• Prof Janet Dunn Professor of Clinical Trials and Head of Cancer Trials Deputy Director WMS Clinical Trials Unit
• Professor Hisham Mehanna, Consultant Head-Neck and Thyroid Surgeon & Honorary Professor

Enquiries contact

Email: ctuenquiries@warwick.ac.uk 

Links

• HTA Project Information
• ISRCTN Register Entry
• CRUK Project Information
• WMS homepage
• Research at the Medical School