OCTF’s Consensus guidelines for HNC recognised among 13 worldwide clinical practice guidelines

The Consensus Guidelines for the Management of Head and Neck Cancer (HNC), developed under the aegis of Oral Cancer Task Force (OCTF) supported by the Biocon Foundation, has been recognised amongst the 13 worldwide clinical practice guidelines by Cancers, an international, peer-reviewed, open access journal of oncology.

The OCTF’s consensus guidelines was included in journal Cancers as part of a scoping review that identified and compared the worldwide clinical practice guidelines for treating oral, oropharynx, and larynx cancer. This recognition acknowledges the global significance of the OCTF’s efforts and positions its consensus guidelines among those from US, Europe, Canada, Japan, and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN).

The OCTF is an independent, multi-disciplinary task force comprising leading oncologists from across India. Under the aegis of OCTF, the first ever Indian clinical practice guidelines on management of HNC were laid down and published in the Indian Journal of Cancer in February 2020.

Responding to the need for India-specific guidelines to treat HNC patients, the OCTF had in 2018 started the exercise to tailor treatment recommendations to demographics, technological/human resources and usual local practices.

The first edition of the guidelines was published in the Indian Journal of Cancer in February 2020. The second, updated edition was officially launched at the fourth edition of the OCTF Conference in July 2023 and was published in the Journal of Cancer Research Statistics and Treatment, further underscoring their significance and contribution to the field.