Intra-arterial chemotherapy less intensive than RADPLAT with concurrent radiotherapy for resectable advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma: a prospective study.

Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy and feasibility of our intra-arterial chemotherapy protocol with a lower amount and frequency of cisplatin delivery than in RADPLAT for the treatment of resectable advanced head and neck cancer.

Methods: Fifty-one patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, or larynx were included in this prospective study. The patients were treated with 3 courses of cisplatin (100 mg at 1 treatment, intra-arterial) and sodium thiosulfate (28 g at 1 treatment, intravenous) once every 2 weeks during concurrent radiotherapy (66 to 70 Gy, 2 Gy per fraction, daily for 5 days over 7 weeks). Nodal metastases larger than 3 cm in diameter were treated with an additional 50 mg of cisplatin. The patients with less than 50% tumor reduction after 40 Gy and 2 courses of chemotherapy were treated with surgery.

Results: The protocol was completed for 49 patients. All living patients had a minimum follow-up period of 2 years. Including the 3 patients with salvage surgery, local disease-free control was achieved in 39 patients (80%). For 36 patients (73.5%), disease-free primary organs were preserved at 2 years after treatment. Locoregional disease-free control for 2 years was obtained for 38 patients (77.6%), in 30 of them without salvage surgery. The patients treated with surgery had an overall survival rate similar to that of the patients with a complete response (80% and 84.6%, respectively). The patients with a partial response had a worse prognosis (40%; p = .0069).

Conclusions: This treatment regimen is feasible and effective for advanced resectable head and neck cancer.