Scholars@Duke
William Willie Su

William Willie Su

Clinical Faculty in the Department of Radiation Oncology
Radiation Oncology

Selected Publications

Definitive Radiation Therapy is a Viable Treatment for Locally Advanced Basal Cell Carcinoma Otherwise Requiring Radical or Disfiguring Resection.

Journal Article Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys · March 1, 2025 PURPOSE: Standard treatment for basal cell carcinoma (BCC) is surgical resection. However, a subset of locally advanced BCCs may be unresectable, or surgery would result in unacceptable functional or cosmetic defects. Outcomes after definitive radiation th ... Full text Link to item Cite

Stricter Postoperative Oropharyngeal Cancer Radiation Therapy Normal Tissue Dose Constraints Are Feasible.

Journal Article Pract Radiat Oncol · 2022 PURPOSE: Although dose de-escalation is one proposed strategy to mitigate long-term toxicity in human papillomavirus associated oropharyngeal cancer, applying more stringent normal tissue constraints may be a complementary approach to further reduce toxici ... Full text Link to item Cite

Long-term outcomes in patients with recurrent human papillomavirus-positive oropharyngeal cancer after upfront transoral robotic surgery.

Journal Article Head Neck · December 2020 BACKGROUND: Clinical course following failure of human papillomavirus (HPV)-positive oropharyngeal cancers (HPV + OPC) is poorly understood. This study aims to characterize disease course following failure after transoral robotic surgery (TORS). METHODS: W ... Full text Link to item Cite

Rapid in-field failures following adjuvant radiation for buccal squamous cell carcinoma.

Journal Article Laryngoscope · February 2020 OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Squamous cell carcinoma originating in the buccal mucosa and retromolar trigone (RMT) have historically poor outcomes. Difficulties in discriminating tumor origin often result in these subsites being combined in surgical and patholog ... Full text Link to item Cite

Surveillance Imaging in HPV-related Oropharyngeal Cancer.

Journal Article Anticancer Res · March 2018 BACKGROUND/AIM: Current guidelines derived from a pre-human papilloma virus (HPV) era in oropharyngeal cancer do not recommend routine surveillance imaging. We aimed to analyze the method of recurrence detection in HPV+ disease to determine a role for foll ... Full text Link to item Cite

Human Papilloma Virus-positive Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma in the Elderly.

Journal Article Anticancer Res · April 2017 BACKGROUND/AIM: Elderly patients with HPV+ oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) represent an understudied cohort of the HPV epidemic. We aimed to investigate the clinical presentation, treatment tolerability and outcomes in patient's ≥65 years old with HPV+ OPC. PAT ... Full text Link to item Cite

Low-dose cranial boost in high-risk adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients undergoing bone marrow transplant.

Journal Article Pract Radiat Oncol · 2017 PURPOSE: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has a predilection for CNS involvement. Patients with high-risk ALL are often managed with transplant using a radiation-based conditioning regimen. Historically, a high-dose prophylactic cranial boost (CB) of ≥12 ... Full text Link to item Cite

Adjuvant radiation for salivary gland malignancies is associated with improved survival: A National Cancer Database analysis.

Journal Article Adv Radiat Oncol · 2017 OBJECTIVE: There are no randomized data to support the use of postoperative radiation for salivary gland malignancies. This study uses the National Cancer Database (NCDB) to describe the epidemiology of salivary gland cancer patients and to investigate whe ... Full text Link to item Cite

Identification and Management of Head and Neck Cancer Recurrences Detected on Adjuvant Radiation Oncology Simulation Scans.

Journal Article Anticancer Res · January 2017 BACKGROUND/AIM: Computerized tomographic (CT) simulation is used to design precise radiation therapy treatment plans. These scans are not routinely read by radiology and are only used for planning purposes. As radiation oncology departments adopt the addit ... Full text Link to item Cite

Adjuvant Radiation Therapy Alone for HPV Related Oropharyngeal Cancers with High Risk Features.

Journal Article PLoS One · 2016 BACKGROUND: Current standard of care for oropharyngeal cancers with positive surgical margins and/or extracapsular extension is adjuvant chemoradiotherapy. It is unknown whether HPV+ oropharyngeal cancer benefits from this treatment intensification. OBJECT ... Full text Link to item Cite

PTEN inhibits PREX2-catalyzed activation of RAC1 to restrain tumor cell invasion.

Journal Article Sci Signal · March 31, 2015 The tumor suppressor PTEN restrains cell migration and invasion by a mechanism that is independent of inhibition of the PI3K pathway and decreased activation of the kinase AKT. PREX2, a widely distributed GEF that activates the GTPase RAC1, binds to and in ... Full text Link to item Cite