The British journal of cancer. Supplement
-
Br. J. Cancer Suppl. · Jul 1996
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical TrialConventional vs accelerated fractionation in head and neck cancer.
From October 1990 to March 1994, 90 patients entered a prospectively randomised trial in head and neck cancer. All patients had verified squamous cell carcinoma and were referred for primary radiation therapy. Tumours originated in the oral cavity in 25, oropharynx in 37, larynx in 15 and hypopharynx in 13 cases. ⋯ Those patients treated with additional MMC experienced a grade III/IV haematological toxicity in 4/28 cases. Complete remission (CR) was recorded in 48% following CF, 79% after Vienna-CHART (P < 0.05) and 71% after Vienna-CHART + MMC. The overall local failure rates were 73%, 59% and 42% (P = NS) for patients treated by CF, Vienna-CHART and Vienna-CHART + MMC respectively.
-
Br. J. Cancer Suppl. · Jul 1996
Evidence for a therapeutic gain when AQ4N or tirapazamine is combined with radiation.
The use of bioreductive drugs as an adjunct to radiotherapy in the treatment of cancer is presently being tested in several clinical trials worldwide. We have developed a novel bioreductive compound AQ4N (1,4-bis-¿[2-(dimethylamino-N-oxide)ethyl]amino¿ 5,8-dihydroxy-anthracene-9, 10-dione) which can be reduced to a stable cytotoxic agent AQ4. The anti-tumour efficacy of AQ4N has been studied using male BDF mice bearing the T50/80 tumour. ⋯ When combined with 10 Gy radiation neither AQ4N nor tirapazamine showed any enhancement of functional loss as compared with radiation alone. This was in contrast to mitomycin C which had a marked effect on the radiation induced functional deficit. In conclusion, in our model, an increase in the therapeutic index was obtained for radiation treatment when either AQ4N or tirapazamine was administered concurrently.