Changes in the 8th Edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) Staging of Head and Neck Cancer: Rationale and Implications

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The objectives of this article are to review the major changes in the staging of head and neck cancers and the rationale for the modifications. RECENT FINDINGS: Information gathered from various institutional reports lead to a better understanding of the clinical and biological behavior of head and neck tumors, resulting in distinct outcomes, which were used to update the staging system. This article reviews the changes in the staging of head and neck cancers published in the 8th edition of the AJCC/UICC TNM staging system.