De Cicco R, et al. - In this retrospective cohort study, researchers characterized the patterns of recurrence and survival in patients treated for opharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OPSCC) in a geographic region with a reported low prevalence of human papillomavirus (HPV)-related OPSCC. Two hundred fifteen individuals diagnosed with American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) stages I to IV OPSCC who were treated with upfront surgery or radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy in a tertiary Cancer Center in Brazil, were retrospectively evaluated. Data reported that 127 (59.1%) patients were diagnosed with HPV-positive OPSCC. Overall, for patients positive and negative to HPV, respectively, the 5-year cancer-specific survival was 73.5% and 68.1%. Findings suggested no association of HPV status with higher rates of survival among the studied population. Smoking status was also known to be the only independent survival prognostic factor. In addition, patients with HPV-positive tumors were more likely to have unusual distant metastases than patients with HPV-negative OPSCC.