{"entity":{"id":"hisham-mehanna","kind":"person","name":"Hisham Mehanna","aka":[],"tldr":"Surgeon who led De-ESCALaTE and PET-NECK, two trials that changed how HPV-positive throat cancer is treated and followed up.","summary":"Hisham Mehanna was chief investigator of De-ESCALaTE HPV, which showed cetuximab is inferior to cisplatin with radiotherapy in HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer (mirroring RTOG 1016), and of PET-NECK, which showed PET-CT surveillance safely avoids neck dissection after chemoradiotherapy. He leads the UK's head and neck trials portfolio and the Institute of Head and Neck Studies and Education.","asOf":"2026-09-10","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hisham_Mehanna","links":[{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Mehanna%20H%5BAuthor%5D%20oropharyngeal"}],"tags":["head-and-neck","surgery","de-escalation","uk"],"related":[],"cancers":["head-and-neck"],"sections":[],"technologies":["fdg-pet","imrt-igrt"],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":["birmingham-cancer-centre"],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"role":"Professor of Head and Neck Surgery and Director, Institute of Head and Neck Studies and Education, University of Birmingham","institutionId":"birmingham-cancer-centre","specialisms":["Head and neck surgery","HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancer","De-escalation","PET-guided surveillance"],"profiles":[{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Mehanna%20H%5BAuthor%5D%20oropharyngeal"}],"papers":[{"title":"Radiotherapy plus cisplatin or cetuximab in low-risk human papillomavirus-positive oropharyngeal cancer (De-ESCALaTE HPV)","journal":"Lancet","year":2019,"doi":"10.1016/S0140-6736(18)32752-1"},{"title":"PET-CT surveillance versus neck dissection in advanced head and neck cancer (PET-NECK)","journal":"NEJM","year":2016,"doi":"10.1056/NEJMoa1514493"}],"orcid":"0000-0002-5544-6224"},"route":"/people/hisham-mehanna/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"head-and-neck","kind":"cancer","name":"Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma","route":"/cancers/head-and-neck/"}],"technology":[{"id":"fdg-pet","kind":"technology","name":"FDG PET","route":"/technologies/fdg-pet/"},{"id":"imrt-igrt","kind":"technology","name":"IMRT / IGRT (modern external beam)","route":"/technologies/imrt-igrt/"}],"institution":[{"id":"birmingham-cancer-centre","kind":"institution","name":"University Hospitals Birmingham / University of Birmingham Cancer Research Centre","route":"/institutions/birmingham-cancer-centre/"}]}}