{"id":5078,"date":"2007-09-07T08:38:18","date_gmt":"2007-09-07T15:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/?p=5078"},"modified":"2009-04-16T08:38:42","modified_gmt":"2009-04-16T15:38:42","slug":"phase-ii-feasibility-study-of-concurrent-radiotherapy-and-gemcitabine-in-chemonaive-patients-with-squamous-cell-carcinoma-of-the-head-and-neck-long-term-follow-up-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/phase-ii-feasibility-study-of-concurrent-radiotherapy-and-gemcitabine-in-chemonaive-patients-with-squamous-cell-carcinoma-of-the-head-and-neck-long-term-follow-up-data\/","title":{"rendered":"Phase II feasibility study of concurrent radiotherapy and gemcitabine in chemonaive patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: long-term follow up data"},"content":{"rendered":"<ul class=\"bullets\">\n<li><strong>9\/7\/2007<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>web-based article<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>PM Specenier et al.<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Annals of Oncology, doi:10.1093\/annonc\/mdm346 <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Background:<br \/>\nRadiotherapy (RT) with concurrent chemotherapy is the current standard of care for patients with unresectable locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). Gemcitabine (GEM) is a potent radiosensitizer and in addition has activity as an anticancer agent in SCCHN.<\/p>\n<p>Patients and methods:<br \/>\nTwenty-six patients with locally far advanced SCCHN were enrolled in a chemoradiation feasibility study between November 1998 and September 2003. Use was made of conventionally fractionated RT and GEM 100 mg\/m2, which was given within 2 h prior to radiotherapy on a weekly basis starting on day 1 of RT. Response was assessed according to WHO criteria, toxicity according to NCI-CTC version 2.<\/p>\n<p>Results:<br \/>\nThe patients received a median of 7 (2\u20138) weekly cycles of gemcitabine and a median cumulative RT dose of 70 Gy (66\u201384.75). Hematologic toxicity was mild, but non-hematologic toxicity was severe: grade 3\u20134 stomatitis occurred in 85% of patients, dermatitis in 69%, pharyngitis\/esophagitis in 81% and 80% of the patients needed a feeding tube during treatment. All 22 evaluable patients responded (50% complete, 50% partial). Median follow up of the surviving patients is 46 months. Median disease-free and overall survival is 13 months and 19 months, respectively; 27% of the patients are alive without evidence of recurrence beyond 3 years.<\/p>\n<p>Conclusions:<br \/>\nConventionally fractionated RT in combination with GEM 100 mg\/m2 weekly is feasible and highly active in the treatment of locally advanced SCCHN. In particular, long-term local control rate is promising. Acute mucosal toxicities are significant but manageable. Long-term toxicity interferes with normal food intake.<\/p>\n<p>Authors:<br \/>\nPM Specenier1, D Van den Weyngaert2, C Van Laer3, J Weyler4, J Van den Brande1, MT Huizing1, J Dyck1, D Schrijvers1,5 and JB Vermorken1<\/p>\n<p>Authors&#8217; affiliations:<br \/>\n1 Department of Medical Oncology, University Hospital Antwerp, Edegem<br \/>\n2 Department of Radiotherapy, Campus Middelheim, ZNA Hospital Network, Antwerp<br \/>\n3 Department of Otolaryngology, University Hospital Antwerp, Edegem<br \/>\n4 Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Center for Cancer Prevention, University of Antwerp, Edegem<br \/>\n5 Department of Medical Oncology Campus Middelheim, ZNA Hospital Network, Antwerp, Belgium<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>9\/7\/2007 web-based article PM Specenier et al. Annals of Oncology, doi:10.1093\/annonc\/mdm346 Background: Radiotherapy (RT) with concurrent chemotherapy is the current standard of care for patients with unresectable locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). Gemcitabine (GEM) is a potent radiosensitizer and in addition has activity as an anticancer agent in SCCHN. Patients and methods: Twenty-six patients with locally far advanced SCCHN were enrolled in a chemoradiation feasibility study between November 1998 and September 2003. Use was made of conventionally fractionated RT and GEM 100 mg\/m2, which was given within 2 h prior to radiotherapy on a weekly basis starting on day 1 of RT. Response was assessed according to WHO criteria, toxicity according to NCI-CTC version 2. Results: The patients received a median of 7 (2\u20138) weekly cycles of gemcitabine and a median cumulative RT dose of 70 Gy (66\u201384.75). Hematologic toxicity was mild, but non-hematologic toxicity was severe: grade 3\u20134 stomatitis occurred in 85% of patients, dermatitis in 69%, pharyngitis\/esophagitis in 81% and 80% of the patients needed a feeding tube during treatment. All 22 evaluable patients responded (50% complete, 50% partial). Median follow up of the surviving patients is 46 months. Median disease-free and overall survival is 13 months and 19 months, respectively; 27% of the patients are alive without evidence of recurrence beyond 3 years. Conclusions: Conventionally fractionated RT in combination with GEM 100 mg\/m2 weekly is feasible and highly active in the treatment of locally advanced SCCHN. In particular, long-term local control  [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[787],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oral-cancer-news-archive"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/41"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5078"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5079,"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5078\/revisions\/5079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/oralcancernews.org\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}