Concomitant chemoradiotherapy using low-dose weekly gemcitabine versus low-dose weekly paclitaxel in locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a phase III study.

The objective of this study was to compare concomitant chemoradiotherapy based on weekly low-dose gemcitabine versus weekly low-dose paclitaxel in locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Previously, untreated patients with locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck were randomly assigned to one of the two concomitant chemoradiation regimens: (1) weekly gemcitabine at a dose of 100 mg/m(2) over 30 min 1-2 h before radiotherapy and (2) weekly paclitaxal at a dose of 20 mg/m(2) over 60 min 4-6 h before radiotherapy. The planned radiotherapy dose was 65 Gy over 6.