2014 Volume 40 Issue 4 Pages 479-484
Cetuximab is an anti-epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) monoclonal antibody, and is currently the only molecular-targeted drug approved for the treatment of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. The NCCN guidelines state that the standard care for locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is radiotherapy with concurrent cisplatin, and radiotherapy combined with cetuximab is one of the choices for locally advanced HNSCC. Based on these definitions, we introduced radiotherapy with concurrent cetuximab as an initial treatment for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma at Shikoku Cancer Center from April 2013. We applied this treatment for 11 patients, 6 of whom were suffering from oropharyngeal carcinoma, 2 from hypopharyngeal carcinoma and 3 from laryngeal carcinoma. Four of the patients had Stage II disease, three had Stage III, and four had Stage IVA. Ten patients were male and one was female, and the median age of the patients was 63 years. The performance status of the patients was 0. Grade 3 radiation dermatitis and mucositis occurred in almost all the patients, but there were no grade 4 adverse events. All patients completed the planned therapy. The 12-week outcome after the treatment was nine complete responses (CR) and two partial responses (PR), so positive results were provided by the combination of cetuximab and radiotherapy.
