Current chemotherapies for recurrent/metastatic head and neck cancer.
Surgery and radiotherapy are generally not an option for recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Chemotherapy is the only possible treatment. The five major drugs active in monotherapy are methotrexate, cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), cetuximab (an antiepidermal growth factor receptor antibody) and taxanes (paclitaxel or docetaxel). They allow 10-25% response with a median survival of approximately 6-8 months. Various chemotherapy doublets may achieve higher response rates, up to 45-50%, but overall survival remains unchanged. As recurrent patients are often symptomatic, better response is associated with better quality of life and the standard treatment for patients with performance status 0-1 is the combination of cisplatin and 5-FU. Recently, the triplet cisplatin-5-FU-cetuximab, which has been shown to result in an increased response rate and a significantly better median survival of 10.4 months, has become the new treatment standard.
Université de Lyon, Centre Léon Bérard, Lyon, France.
Yann
Y
Molin
Jérôme
J
Fayette
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000971:Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols / Q000627:therapeutic use; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D009362:Neoplasm Metastasis; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D011788:Quality of Life; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000970:Antineoplastic Agents