Acute toxicity and preliminary clinical outcomes of concurrent radiation therapy and weekly docetaxel and daily cisplatin for head and neck cancer.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the feasibility and efficacy of concurrent weekly docetaxel and radiation therapy as a definitive treatment for head and neck cancer (HNC).


METHODS
Thirty-two patients with primary HNC, who were treated with concurrent weekly docetaxel and radiation therapy, were analysed. The distribution of the disease stage was as follows: Stage II, 18 patients; Stage III, 3 patients; Stage IVA, 7 patients; Stage IVB, 3 patients; the patient of cervical lymph node metastasis with unknown primary tumor was not assessable. The average total dose of radiotherapy was 67.5 Gy. Docetaxel (10 mg/m(2), intravenously, once a week) was given to all patients up to four cycles, and cisplatin (6 mg/m(2), intravenously, five times a week) was also administered to all patients for up to 3 weeks from the beginning of the radiation therapy.


RESULTS
Only in two patients did the radiotherapy need to be temporarily interrupted due to the development of acute mucositis. Grade 3 toxicity was observed in six patients. Grade 4 acute mucositis was seen in one patient. The response rate was 100%, and complete response (CR) was observed in 30 patients (94%). At the time of the analysis, the 2 year local control and relapse-free rates in the 30 patients showing CR were 90 and 76%, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Concurrent weekly docetaxel and radiation therapy did not affect the compliance of the patients for the radiation therapy, indicating that the acute toxicities were within acceptable limits.
Kitamoto
Yoshizumi
Y
Department of Radiation Oncology, Gunma University Graduate School of Medicine, Maebashi, Gunma 371-8511, Japan.
Akimoto
Tetsuo
T
Ishikawa
Hitoshi
H
Nonaka
Tetsuo
T
Katoh
Hiroyuki
H
Nakano
Takashi
T
Ninomiya
Hiroshi
H
Chikamatsu
Kazuaki
K
Furuya
Nobuhiko
N
D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002945:Cisplatin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D000077143:Docetaxel; D019583:Dose Fractionation, Radiation; D004334:Drug Administration Schedule; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D052016:Mucositis / Q000139:chemically induced; D020266:Radiotherapy, Conformal; D043823:Taxoids / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000009:adverse effects; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D043823:Taxoids; D000077143:Docetaxel; D002945:Cisplatin