TY - JOUR
T1 - 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
AU - Bossi, Paolo
AU - Kornek, Gabriela
AU - Lanzetta, Gaetano
AU - Rozzi, Antonio
AU - Füreder, Thorsten
AU - Locati, Laura
AU - Licitra, Lisa
PY - 2013/10
Y1 - 2013/10
N2 - Background: 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. Methods: We reviewed the safety and feasibility of every-other-week maintenance cetuximab administered at 3 different European centers. Results: 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%). Conclusions: 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.
AB - Background: 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. Methods: We reviewed the safety and feasibility of every-other-week maintenance cetuximab administered at 3 different European centers. Results: 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%). Conclusions: 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.
KW - every-other-week cetuximab
KW - maintenance therapy
KW - quality of life
KW - recurrent and/or metastatic head and neck cancer
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84884904170&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84884904170&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1002/hed.23170
DO - 10.1002/hed.23170
M3 - Article
C2 - 23042567
AN - SCOPUS:84884904170
VL - 35
SP - 1471
EP - 1474
JO - Head and Neck Surgery
JF - Head and Neck Surgery
SN - 1043-3074
IS - 10
ER -