• Masato Fujii, Mamoru Tsukuda, Bunsuke Satake, Akira Kubota, Akinori Kida, Naoyuki Kohno, Kenji Okami, Yukio Inuyama, and Japan Cooperative Head and Neck Oncology Group (JCHNOG).
• Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, Keio University, 35 Shinanomachi, Shinjuku-ku, 160-8582, Tokyo, Japan. mfujii@sc.itc.keio.ac.jp
• Int. J. Clin. Oncol. 2004 Apr 1; 9 (2): 107-12.

BackgroundA phase I/II trial of concurrent docetaxel and radiation for head and neck cancer was conducted to estimate the recommended dose schedule of docetaxel, and then to evaluate the therapeutic benefit.MethodsPatients received radiation in 2.0-Gy single daily fractions to a total dose of 60 Gy. Docetaxel was administered weekly for 6 consecutive weeks.ResultsDocetaxel 15 mg/m(2) was considered the maximum tolerated dose (MTD). The recommended dose was decided as 10 mg/m(2). The phase II study was conducted using docetaxel at 10 mg/m(2). Thirty-nine patients were enrolled. The overall response rate was 96.9%. The prognosis of the complete response (CR) patients was significantly better than that of the partial response (PR) patients. Grade 3 or 4 adverse events consisted of lymphopenia, stomatitis, and anorexia. Thirty-two of the 35 eligible patients showed high compliance, of over 90%, and their toxicities were manageable.ConclusionEven low-dose docetaxel shows a strong effect in combination with radiation, with a high survival rate in CR patients. The effect on survival will be assessed by further follow-up.A phase I/II trial of concurrent docetaxel and radiation for head and neck cancer was conducted to estimate the recommended dose schedule of docetaxel, and then to evaluate the therapeutic benefit.

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