IReC-Bio and IReC Registry

IReC is the world's first centre for recurrent head and neck cancers. We have the ambitious aim to create a centre of international excellence and set international standards in the curative treatment of recurrent head and neck cancers. One of IReC's key objectives is to develop a national research tissue bank to support laboratory and translational research. The cornerstone of translational research is a well-annotated biobank of cancer samples to explore and validate key research findings. The purpose of IReC-Bio is to support research into recurrent head and neck cancers. A central repository for the rarer recurrent cancers will allow the concentration of cases required in order to support translational research programmes. The overall aim is to facilitate research into understanding disease biology, identifying potentially curative treatments, and allow detailed investigations into the relationships between clinical, pathological and molecular characteristics and clinical outcomes. Combining the IReC Registry and Biobank gives us a comprehensive data and sample set which has never been created before for recurrent head and neck cancer. The aim is to have a national, and in the future international, resource of the study of recurrent head and neck cancer on a molecular and clinical level to support novel ways of treating rHNC.

Sex

All

Inclusion Criteria:

* Aged over 18 at time of diagnosis.
* Confirmed clinical, radiological, and/ or histological diagnosis of residual, recurrent, or new primary malignant head and neck cancer arising from the nasopharynx, oropharynx, oral cavity, larynx, hypopharynx, sinonasal cavities, major salivary glands and thyroid gland.
* Any mucosal, salivary gland, and thyroid histological subtype
* Ability to give informed consent.
* Details of clinical follow-up available

For IReC-BIO only:

* FFPE blocks(s) or fresh frozen tumour tissue available for collection
* Two or more tumour-containing blocks available from the same specimen

For QoL Questionnaires only:

• Patients who have received a diagnosis of rHNC no earlier than 6 weeks prior to study entry

Exclusion Criteria:

• Recurrent cutaneous (e.g., SCC, melanoma), sarcomatous, and lymphatic or haematological (e.g. lymphoma) malignancies of the head and neck

For IReC-BIO only:

* FFPE tumour samples contain insufficient tumour sample for analysis.
* Insufficient clinical details available

For QoL Questionnaires only:

• Patients who have received a diagnosis of rHNC more than 6 weeks prior to study entry