Short-Course Radiation plus Temozolomide in Elderly Patients with Glioblastoma.

Background: Glioblastoma is associated with a poor prognosis in the elderly. Survival has been shown to increase among patients 70 years of age or younger when temozolomide chemotherapy is added to standard radiotherapy (60 Gy over a period of 6 weeks). In elderly patients, more convenient shorter courses of radiotherapy are commonly used, but the benefit of adding temozolomide to a shorter course of radiotherapy is unknown.

Randomized phase II trial of selenomethionine as a modulator of efficacy and toxicity of chemoradiation in squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Aim: To investigate whether selenomethionine (SLM) reduces mucositis incidence in patients with head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC) undergoing concurrent chemoradiation (CRT).

Methods: In this multi-institutional, randomized, double-blind phase II trial, patients with Stage III or IV HNSCC received SLM 3600 μg/m(2) or placebo twice daily for 7 d prior to CRT, once daily during CRT, and daily for 3 wk following CRT. CRT consisted of 70 Gy at 2 Gy per fraction with cisplatin 100 mg/m(2) IV on days 1, 22, and 43.