Concurrent chemoradiotherapy with carboplatin and uracil-f tegafur (UFT) for patients with poor performance status with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN).
CONCLUSIONS
Concurrent chemoradiotherapy with carboplatin and uracil-f tegafur (UFT) seems to be a promising and appropriate regimen for patients with poor performance status (PS) with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN).


OBJECTIVE
We designed a regimen based on divided low-dose administration to reduce toxicity for patients with poor PS with locally advanced SCCHN.


METHODS
Sixty-two patients with previously untreated stage III-IV SCCHN and PS of 2 or 3 were entered into this study. They received radiotherapy: 70 Gy/35 fractions. The chemotherapy consisted of a combination of carboplatin (Calvert's formula: (GFR+25) x AUC (=5)/4 mg/week; where AUC area under the curve and GFR = glomerular filtration rate) and UFT (300 mg/day, per os).


RESULTS
The overall clinical response rate and the pathological complete response (CR) were 90% (56/62) and 61% (38/62), respectively. Grade > or =3 mucositis occurred in only 6% of patients (4/62) and grade 2 > or =3 leukocytopenia and neutropenia occurred in only 5% (3/62).
Katori
Hideaki
H
Department of Otolaryngology, Yokohama City Minato Red Cross Hospital, Japan. hhkatori@yahoo.co.jp
Tsukuda
Mamoru
M
Taguchi
Takahide
T
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018714:Radiotherapy, Adjuvant; D005641:Tegafur / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014498:Uracil / Q000627:therapeutic use
D005641:Tegafur; D014498:Uracil