• C Gedlicka, M Formanek, E Selzer, M Burian, J Kornfehl, W Fiebiger, M Cartellieri, B Marks, and G V Kornek.
• Department of Internal Medicine I, Division of Oncology, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria.
• Oncology. 2002 Jan 1; 63 (2): 145-50.

PurposeSince the combination of cisplatin and docetaxel have demonstrated activity in squamous cell carcinomas of the lung and oesophagus before, promising results in recurrent metastatic head and neck cancer were expected.Patients And MethodsBetween September 1998 and October 2000, 40 patients entered this trial, 38 of whom were evaluable. Six patients were previously untreated, 24 had surgery and/or radiotherapy and 13 had received chemoradiation and/or surgery. Therapy consisted of 75 mg/m(2) docetaxel (1-hour infusion) and 75 mg/m(2) cisplatin (90-min infusion) on day 1, repeated every three weeks for a maximum of 6 courses. All patients received corticosteroids routinely, 5-HT3-antagonists, and hydration.ResultsThe overall response rate was 52.5% (95% confidence interval, 36.1 to 68.5%) including 7 complete (17.5% complete response; CR) and 14 partial remissions (35% partial response; PR). The overall response rate in patients who had no prior treatment (n = 6) was 100%, including 3 CR and 3 PR. In patients who had prior surgery and/or radiotherapy (n = 21) an overall response rate of 42.8% was observed, including 2 CR and 7 PR; 8 patients (38.1%) had stable disease, while disease progressed in 3 (14.3%). Six of 13 patients (46.2%) who had prior chemoradiation +/- surgery responded, including 2 CR (15.4%) and 4 PR (30.8%), no change was seen in 4 patients (30.8%) and tumour progressed in 2 (15.4%). The median response duration for all patients was 10 months (range, 3-20), the median overall survival was 11 months (range, 1-30). Myelosuppression was commonly observed; WHO grade 3 or 4 neutropenia occurred in 12 patients (30%) each, and was complicated by septicaemia in 5 cases. WHO grade 3 anaemia was observed in only 3 patients (7.5%). Severe non-hematologic toxicity except for alopecia was rarely observed, and included diarrhea in 2 (5%), nausea/vomiting in 2 patients (5%) and stomatitis in 1 patient (2.5%).ConclusionOur data suggest that docetaxel and cisplatin in combination is an effective and fairly well tolerated regimen for the treatment of head and neck cancer with an excellent response rate in previously untreated patients.Copyright 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel

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