PMID: 9427261Jan 14, 1998Paper

Paclitaxel and carboplatin in head and neck cancer

Seminars in Oncology
F DunphyT Dunleavy

Abstract

Surgery and radiation for advanced head and neck cancer are debilitating and associated with poor survival. If outpatient preoperative chemotherapy could be used such that smaller surgical resections are needed, organs might be preserved and patients' quality of life enhanced. Accordingly, we are conducting a phase I trial of paclitaxel (Taxol; Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Princeton, NJ) and carboplatin in previously untreated patients with advanced head and neck cancer. Study goals include identifying the maximum tolerated paclitaxel dose, evaluating response, and enhancing organ preservation. Newly diagnosed patients with stage III/IV head and neck cancer, measurable disease, and Zubrod performance status < or =2 were eligible. Of 33 patients treated thus far, four (12%) had stage III and 29 (88%) stage IV disease. Their median age was 58 years (range, 17 to 76 years). Treatment was repeated at 21-day intervals for two courses. Patients who achieved clinical partial or complete responses (CRs) received a third course of treatment. If patients were found to have a histologic CR at restaging, radiation was substituted for surgery. Carboplatin was dosed by the Calvert formula to an area under the concentration-time curve of 7.5...Continue Reading

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