• 3/2/2002
  • American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology

According to data recently published by the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, a treatment program consisting of Platinol® and radiation therapy following surgery appears to significantly increase cancer-free survival and overall survival of patients diagnosed with head and neck cancer. These results are consistent with previous clinical trials and have prompted European health-care providers to adopt this treatment approach as their new standard of care for patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer.

The term head and neck cancer refers to any number of cancers that may occur in the head and/or neck region. These may include cancers of the tongue, mouth, salivary glands, pharynx, larynx, sinus and other sites located in the head and neck area. If the cancer is locally advanced (has spread to nearby tissue or lymph nodes), surgery alone may not be curative. Nonetheless, the patient may elect surgery to remove as much of the cancer as possible. Following surgery, the patient then undergoes radiation therapy in an attempt to destroy remaining cancer cells. Despite this treatment, most individuals will experience disease progression.

New research from Japanese and European studies indicates that the use of chemotherapy in addition to radiation therapy following surgery (adjuvant therapy) may increase the length of time a patient is cancer-free and overall survival time.

The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer recruited 334 patients diagnosed with locally advanced squamous cell carcinomas of the oral cavity, oropharynx (middle part of the throat including the base of the tongue and tonsils), larynx (area of the throat containing vocal cords) or hypopharynx (where the pharynx meets the top of the trachea and esophagus). Following surgery, the patients were randomly divided into two treatment groups: radiation alone and radiation plus chemotherapy. All patients received one daily session of radiation (2 Gy) for up to 33 days. Patients in the radiation plus chemotherapy group also received a high dose of Platinol®, a chemotherapy agent, on days 1, 22, and 43 of the study.

Three years following treatment, 59% of patients who received radiation and chemotherapy were cancer-free, compared to only 41% of patients who received radiation alone. In addition, 65% of the patients in the combination protocol and only 49% of the radiation patients were alive after three years. Patients given Platinol® and radiation experienced fewer metastases and significantly later disease than patients treated with radiation alone. The side effects of the high-dose Platinol® were minimal, consisting mainly of increased incidences of mucositis (inflammation of mucosal membranes) that were not dose-limiting.

In Europe, the combination of adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation is a newly adopted treatment standard for locally advanced head and neck cancers. This European study provides further evidence that such combination treatment increases the length of time a patient is cancer-free as well as the overall length of time a patient lives post treatment compared to radiation alone. Patients with head or neck cancer may wish to speak with their physician regarding the risks and benefits of receiving radiation therapy plus chemotherapy or about participating in a clinical trial further evaluating this combination treatment. Two sources of information regarding ongoing clinical trials include comprehensive, easy-to-use listing services provided by the National Cancer Institute (cancertrials.nci.nih.gov) and www.eCancerTrials.com. eCancerTrials.com also provides personalized clinical trial searches on behalf of patients.