Chemoradiotherapy has become the standard treatment for head and neck squamous cell carcinomas. In this study, we compared the patient background, treatment efficacy, and adverse events between patients treated with two regimens, namely, cisplatin-based chemoradiotherapy (CRT) and cetuximab-based bioradiotherapy (BRT).
Data of a total of 27 patients (17 patients treated with CRT and 10 patients treated with BRT) with advanced oropharyngeal carcinoma were retrospectively reviewed. The BRT group showed a higher mean age, greater degree of renal function impairment, lower hemoglobin level, lower serum albumin level, and a lower lymphocyte count as compared to the CRT group. The 1-year overall survival and disease-free survival rates of the CRT versus BRT group were 93.8% versus 68.6% (p=0.060) and 60.2% versus 57.1% (p=0.776), respectively. The incidence rates of Grade ≥ 3 radiation dermatitis and pharyngeal mucositis were higher in the BRT group as compared to the CRT group. Moreover, all patients of the BRT group showed Grade ≥ 2 hypoalbuminemia.
Our results suggest that the poorer nutritional status and poorer clinical condition of the patients of the BRT group adversely affected the treatment outcome as well as adverse effects in this group, suggesting that selection between the two treatment options should be carefully considered according to individual patients’ conditions.
