Safety and feasibility of every‐other‐week maintenance cetuximab after first‐line chemotherapy in patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell cancer. Issue 10 (6th October 2012)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bossi, Paolo; Kornek, Gabriela; Lanzetta, Gaetano; Rozzi, Antonio; Füreder, Thorsten; Locati, Laura; Licitra, Lisa
• Is Part Of: Head & neck. Volume 35:Issue 10(2013:Oct.)
• Page Start: 1471
• Page End: 1474
• Publication Date: 2012-10-06
• Subjects: Head -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Neck -- Diseases -- Periodicals; Head -- Periodicals; Neck -- Periodicals; Face -- Periodicals; 617.51059
• DOI: 10.1002/hed.23170
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1043-3074

Abstract

<abstract abstract-type="main"> <title> <x xml:space="preserve">Abstract</x> </title> <sec id="hed23170-sec-0001" sec-type="section"> <title>Background</title> <p>In patients with recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC), there are no data about an every‐other‐week cetuximab maintenance schedule after chemotherapy plus cetuximab as first‐line treatment.</p> </sec> <sec id="hed23170-sec-0002" sec-type="section"> <title>Methods</title> <p>We reviewed the safety and feasibility of every‐other‐week maintenance cetuximab administered at 3 different European centers.</p> </sec> <sec id="hed23170-sec-0003" sec-type="section"> <title>Results</title> <p>Thirty‐one patients with recurrent or metastatic HNSCC were treated from 2006 to 2010. Mean cetuximab dose intensity in the maintenance phase was 93%. The major toxicities reported during every‐other‐week maintenance cetuximab were skin rash (grade 3, 16%; grade 2, 23%), fatigue (grade 3, 3%; grade 2, 16%), diarrhea (grade 3, 7%; grade 2, 13%), hypomagnesemia (grade 4, 3%; grade 3, 3%; grade 2, 19%), and mucositis (grade 3, 3%; grade 2, 23%).</p> </sec> <sec id="hed23170-sec-0004" sec-type="section"> <title>Conclusions</title> <p>Every‐other‐week maintenance cetuximab schedule was well tolerated and did not worsen toxicity that occurred during chemotherapy. In daily practice, this simplified schedule could improve compliance and possibly improve quality of life in patients with recurrent or metastatic HNSCC that showed no progression during first‐line chemotherapy. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. <italic>Head Neck</italic> 35: 1471–1474, 2013</p> </sec> </abstract>