Long term results of comparison of concurrent low-dose daily cisplatin versus the standard weekly cisplatin with six fractions per week radiotherapy in locally advanced head neck cancer.
OBJECTIVE
Weekly administration of cisplatin (cis-diamminedichloroplatinum [CDDP]) appears more feasible and substantially more popular than the 3 weekly schedules due to better compliance. Different concurrent cisplatin schedules have been attempted including a daily schedule. We did a comparison of two consecutive single arm studies, i.e., use of weekly cisplatin versus daily cisplatin when used with concurrently with a moderately accelerated radiotherapy (RT) schedule.


METHODS
Two prospective feasibility, safety and efficacy studies were carried out consecutively within the department. The weekly CDDP study was done from August 2003 to August 2005 and daily CDDP study was conducted from November 2005 to June 2007. Both studies included locally advanced stage III and IV squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck region with RT dose of 70 Gy. Concurrent single-agent cisplatin was administered weekly (35 mg/m(2)) in the first and daily (6 mg/m(2)) in the second study.


RESULTS
Weekly cisplatin study had 68 and daily CDDP study had 52 patients. The median follow-up in the two studies was 93 and 63 months, respectively. Compliance in the two studies was comparable. Acute Grade III/IV mucositis and dysphagia were significantly higher in weekly cisplatin study. Late Grade II/III toxicities such as xerostomia, dysphagia, ototoxicity and nephrotoxicity were similar. The 5 years locoregional control was 18% and 25% and 5 years overall survival rate was 32% and 31% in weekly and daily cisplatin studies, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Modest acceleration along with either weekly or daily cisplatin, whichever is possible in one's setup, is do-able, provided due attention is paid to patient selection and supportive care.
Department of Radiotherapy, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Pramod Kumar
PK
Gupta
Department of Radiotherapy, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Punita
P
Lal
Department of Radiotherapy, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Ranjeet
R
Bajpai
Department of Radiotherapy, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Anshu
A
Goel
Department of Radiotherapy, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Rajan
R
Yadav
Department of Radiotherapy, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Mranalini
M
Verma
Department of Radiotherapy, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Shaleen
S
Kumar
Chemotherapy; low dose cisplatin; radiotherapy; weekly cisplatin