A phase II study of carboplatin and paclitaxel for recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the activity and safety of a regimen containing carboplatin and paclitaxel in patients affected by recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer. Eligible patients were treated with a 3-week combination of paclitaxel 175 mg/m2 and carboplatin area under the concentration time curve 5 mg/ml/min for a maximum of four cycles. A total of 27 patients entered the study. One patient (3.7%) had a complete response, whereas six patients (22.2%) obtained a partial response. Stable disease was observed in seven patients (25.9%). The disease control rate was 51.8% (95% confidence interval: 32.0-71.3), whereas overall response rate was 25.9% (95% confidence interval: 11.1-46.3). The median overall survival was 8.0 months (range: 2-27), with a 1-year survival of 30.5%. The median progression-free survival was 1.0 month (range: 0-14). Treatment-related deaths or episodes of neutropenic fever were not registered. Grades 3-4 neutropenia was observed in two patients (7.4%), grades 3-4 anaemia and thrombocytopenia in four (14.8%) and one (3.7%) patients, respectively. Nine patients (33.3%) experienced grades 1-2 and one patient (3.7%) grade 3 peripheral neuropathy. The combination of carboplatin and paclitaxel is safe and moderately effective for the treatment of recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer.

Efficacy and safety of vinorelbine in heavily pretreated recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma patients

“…In this setting, many components have been studied, alone or in combination, such as methotrexate, carboplatin, docetaxel, paclitaxel, capecitabine, pemetrexed, or cetuximab, with the response rate ranging from 10 to 50% [5,[14][15][16][17]. Monotherapy should be preferred for unfit patients with medical condition, a poor nutrition status, or heavily pretreated patients.…”

An effective and well-tolerated strategy in recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck cancer: successive lines of active chemotherapeutic agents

“…Patient ineligible for cisplatin and for the platinum, 5-FU and cetuximab combination were treated with a carboplatin-based front line therapy. The combination of carboplatin and weekly paclitaxel showed response rates of 48 to 53% and median survival rates of 8 to 12.8 months in Phase II trials [14,15]. In addition, the tolerability was better than with a traditional three-weekly administration [14,16].…”

“…The combination of carboplatin and weekly paclitaxel showed response rates of 48 to 53% and median survival rates of 8 to 12.8 months in Phase II trials [14,15]. In addition, the tolerability was better than with a traditional three-weekly administration [14,16]. This combination could then be proposed to patients with an impaired general condition (with a performance status of 2 or >2).…”

Management and palliative chemotherapy for metastatic or recurrent squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck

“…In Phase II trials, the cisplatin plus docetaxel combination gave an ORR of 40-53%. For carboplatin plus paclitaxel, or cisplatin plus paclitaxel the ORR ranged between 27-52% and 32-41%, respectively [90][91][92][93][94][95][96][97][98][99][100]. The median OS was promising and reached 10-11 months in some trials.…”