Capecitabine and oxaliplatin (XELOX) as first-line treatment for patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

Purpose: For almost 40 years, 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) had been the only drug with demonstrated activity against (CRC), commonly used in combination with leucovorin (LV). Oxaliplatin and capecitabine are two relatively novel drugs used in the treatment of CRC. These drugs have been found to act synergistically, both in vivo and in vitro and their combination (XELOX) is highly active in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

A randomized trial of amifostine as radioprotector in the radiotherapy of head and neck cancer.

Purpose: Radiotherapy (RT) for head and neck cancer typically involves the major salivary glands bilaterally and can cause acute and chronic xerostomia and mucositis. The degree of xerostomia has been reported to depend on the radiation dose and the salivary gland volume irradiated. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of the radioprotector amifostine to improve xerostomia and mucositis in head and neck cancer patients who received RT.