Hypofractionated Radiation Therapy Followed by Surgery in Treating Patients With Advanced Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Oral Cavity

Inclusion Criteria: * Patient is willing to sign study specific informed consent * Pathologically proven (histologically or cytologically) diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma (including histological variants like papillary squamous cell carcinoma and basaloid squamous cell carcinoma) * Advanced stage but not metastatic SCC of the oral cavity (III or IVa, b); sites in the oral cavity include oral tongue, floor of mouth, hard palate, gingiva, buccal mucosa, retromolar trigone; often, head \& neck tumors may involve other adjacent sites, such as the oropharynx- in these cases, the criteria is that the tumor must appear to have originated in the oral cavity per ear, nose, and throat (ENT)/radiation oncology * Patient is deemed to be a surgical candidate by ENT * Karnofsky performance status (KPS) 0-2 * For women of childbearing potential, a negative serum pregnancy test completed prior to any radiation therapy * Patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are not automatically excluded, but must meet the following criteria: cluster of differentiation 4 (CD4) count is \> 499/cu mm and their viral load is \< 50 copies/ml; use of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) is allowed * Patient is free of any prior invasive malignancy (except non-melanomatous skin cancer) for a minimum of the past 3 years Exclusion Criteria: * Metastatic disease beyond the neck or supraclavicular area as demonstrated by positron emission tomography (PET)/CT or biopsy * KPS 3 or worse * Gross disease in the retrostyloid (high level II) or retropharyngeal lymph node regions by CT or PET/CT * Patients may not have received previous therapy for their head and neck SCC, including chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or surgery beyond biopsy * Second primary malignancy; exceptions are 1) patient had a second primary malignancy but has been treated and disease free for at least 3 years, 2) in situ carcinoma (e.g. in situ carcinoma of the cervix), 3) non-melanomatous carcinoma of the skin * Serious concomitant systemic disorders (including active infections) that would compromise the safety of the patient or compromise the patient's ability to complete the study, at the discretion of the investigator; this includes scleroderma * Women who are pregnant; women of childbearing age must agree to undergo a urine pregnancy test prior to therapy and to use adequate contraception (hormonal or barrier method of birth control; abstinence) prior to study entry, for the duration of study participation and for 6 months after; should a woman become pregnant or suspect she is pregnant while participating in this study, she should inform her treating physician immediately * Patient is deemed to not be a surgical candidate by ENT