Palliative weekly chemotherapy along with cetuximab in recurrent and metastatic head and neck cancers: A retrospective analysis

Background: This study was undertaken to report the results of weekly combination chemotherapy with cetuximab in recurrent/metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (R/M SCCHN). Materials and Methods: Retrospective analysis of 35 R/M SCCHN patients who received cetuximab with weekly paclitaxel and platin (cisplatin/carboplatin) from SCCHN August 2006 to October 2008 at our Institute was performed. Results: Thirty-five patients (33 [94.3] males and 2 [5.7] females) received the planned weekly chemotherapy protocol. Median age of these patients was 52 years. Of the SCCHN 32 evaluable patients, 25 patients showed symptomatic improvement and 7 showed no improvement. Radiological responses using RECIST criteria reported CR in 1 patient (3.1), PR in 17 patients (53.1), and SD in 6 patients (18.8). The remaining six patients demonstrated disease progression while two could not be assessed. Median overall survival (OS) was 8.016 months (95 CI; 6.572--9.461) and median PFS was 5.782 months (95 CI; 4.521--7.044). The major chemotherapy-related grades 2 and 3 toxicity recorded was cetuximab-induced rash reported in 24 patients. No treatment-related death within 30 days was observed. Conclusion: Cetuximab with weekly combination chemotherapy (Paclitaxel Platinum compound) has shown promise, demonstrating comparable response and outcomes with acceptable toxicity in R/M SCCHN patients.