Concurrent Chemoradiation With Carboplatin–5-Fluorouracil Versus Cisplatin in Locally Advanced Oropharyngeal Cancers: Is More Always Better?

Efficacy of concurrent cetuximab vs. 5-fluorouracil/carboplatin or high-dose cisplatin with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) for locally-advanced head and neck cancer (LAHNSCC)

“…In the postoperative setting, concurrent RT and cisplatin versus carboplatin monotherapy yielded equivalent toxicity [2]. In a comparison of cisplatin/RT and 5FU/carboplatin/RT for oropharyngeal cancer, the only difference in toxicity observed was Grade 3 or 4 neutropenia, which was higher in cisplatin patients [3]. Our results suggest that while there was no difference between cisplatin/RT and cetuximab/RT, 5FU/carboplatin/RT may be a more toxic regimen.…”

“…The addition of concurrent chemotherapy to radiotherapy (RT) for LAHNSCC results in an absolute survival benefit of 6.5% at 5-years, with greater benefit with platinum-based chemotherapy [1]. Among the concurrent platinum agents, single-agent cisplatin is superior to single-agent carboplatin and equivalent to carbo-platin with 5-fluorouracil (5FU) in retrospective analyses [2,3]. …”

Selective intraarterial chemoradiation therapy for oropharyngeal carcinoma with high-dose cisplatin

“…The overall survival rate, locoregional control rate, and disease-free survival rate at 2 years in our study were 71.3%, 95.0%, and 67.7%, respectively. These same rates in another study of systemic chemoradiation for oropharyngeal carcinoma 22,23 were 51%-79%, 66%-94%, and 42%-76%, respectively. In the present study, results similar to those obtained by systemic chemoradiation were achieved.…”

“…24 In previous reports, radiotherapy was performed with a total dose of ≥70 Gy. [22][23][24] In this study, the total dose of radiotherapy was 60 Gy; therefore, this protocol may need refi nement.…”

Cetuximab concurrent with IMRT versus cisplatin concurrent with IMRT in locally advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma

“…Among the concurrent platinum agents, single-agent cisplatin is superior to single-agent carboplatin and equivalent to carboplatin with 5-fluorouracil in retrospective analyses. [4,5] And cisplatin-based treatment has now been considered as the most common used, first-line treatment regimen to treat patients with recurrent metastatic NPC, for many large randomized studies have demonstrated that cisplatin-based regimen provided significantly higher response rates than radiotherapy alone in both locoregional advanced and recurrent NPC. [6,7] Chemotherapy with radiation therapy are recommended for locally advanced nasopharyngeal cancers, with acceptable cisplatin-based chemotherapy regimen.…”