A Pilot Single Arm Study of Intensity Modulated Radiation Therapy Elective Nodal Dose De-Escalation for HPV-Associated Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Oropharynx

The dose of radiation most commonly used to treat oropharyngeal cancer results in side effects including sores in the mouth and throat, dry mouth and thick saliva, loss or altered taste, swallowing problems including pain or inability to swallow requiring feeding tubes to be placed in the stomach, hoarseness or breathing problems from swelling requiring tracheostomy or a hole surgically placed in the windpipe to allow the patient to breathe, nausea and vomiting, fatigue and loss of energy, decreased hearing from fluid behind the ear drums in the middle ear, skin redness tenderness and blistering.

The purpose of this study is to determine if the investigators can reduce the dose of radiation to the lymph nodes in the neck that may contain cancer cells that are not detected by physical examinations or radiologic studies (CT scans, PET CT scans, or MRI scans) in order to reduce the side effects from treatment and still adequately kill any cancer cells that may be contained in those lymph nodes.