2000 Volume 103 Issue 8 Pages 894-899
In patients with locally unresectable head and neck cancer with large nodal involvement, the expected five-year survival is as low as 1-2%. To improve the prognosis of these patients, we studied the usefulness of concurrent chemoradiotherapy in a phase 11 trial.
Between September 1996 and May 1999, thirty-five patients with locally unresectable head and neck cancer were administered concurrent chemoradiotherapy consisting of low-dose and long-term treatment with cisplatin (CDDP) plus 5-fluorouracil (5FU), or (L-CF); the L-CF regimen consisted of CDDP, 3mg/m2 on 5 days of the week and 5FU, 150mg/m2 as a 24-hour infunsion on 5 days of the week. Concurrently, conventional radiotherapy was given up to total dose of around 60 Gy. In the 33 patients evaluable for response, 17 complete and 9 partial responses were noted, with an overall response rate of 79%. Oral mucostis and myelosuppression were the major side effects and mucositis was a dose limiting toxicity. This study demonstrates increase in survival among the responders (complete+partial) in the concurrent chemoradiotherapy setting. However 8 local relapses were eventually noted in the 17 complete responders.
We concluded that this treatment strategy was beneficial in patients with locally unresectable head and neck cancer.
