Abstract
Purpose
To report toxicity data from the first 13 consecutive patients with locally advanced
head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (LAHNSCC), ineligible for cisplatin, treated
with concurrent cetuximab and radiotherapy (RT) at our institution.
Materials and methods
Data were collected prospectively between August 2007 and May 2008. Planned treatment
consisted of a cetuximab loading dose (400 mg/m2) via intravenous infusion 1 week prior and then weekly (250 mg/m2) with 70 Gy in 35 daily fractions over 7 weeks.
Results
Median age was 68 years (range 52–82 years). The predominant primary sites were hypopharyngeal
(5) and oropharyngeal (5). Ineligibility for cisplatin consisted of renal impairment
(5), hearing impairment (4) and of other major co-morbidities (4). Of the 13 patients,
10 (77%) had grade 3/4 skin reactions and 10 (77%) grade 3/4 mucositis. Six (46%)
patients required admission for management of severe skin reactions and/or mucositis
with 4 (31%) requiring a treatment break, median 10 days (9-15days). Only 4 (31%)
patients managed to complete the planned 8 cycles of cetuximab. Of the 9 patients
with 12-week post-therapy data, 7 (78%) achieved a complete response.
Conclusions
Our early experience with cetuximab/RT has demonstrated a higher rate of toxicity
compared with the recently reported randomised trial, resulting in low treatment compliance
and delays in completing RT.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 31, 2008
Accepted:
September 24,
2008
Received in revised form:
September 10,
2008
Received:
June 13,
2008
Identification
Copyright
© 2008 Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
