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Palliative chemotherapy with or without cetuximab in recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: Indian tertiary care retrospective analysis
Author(s) -
Bahl Ankur,
Bhatia Komal,
Choudhary Pragati,
Singhla Suhas,
Shrivastava Gunjan,
Bal Jaspriya,
Anand Anil K.,
Chaturvedi Harit,
Dua Bharat
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
head and neck
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.012
H-Index - 127
eISSN - 1097-0347
pISSN - 1043-3074
DOI - 10.1002/hed.26070
Subject(s) - cetuximab , medicine , chemotherapy , oncology , head and neck squamous cell carcinoma , head and neck cancer , head and neck , radiation therapy , surgery , cancer , colorectal cancer
Background We report our experience with Indian patients who received palliative chemotherapy with/without cetuximab for recurrent/metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (R/M SCCHN). Methods Data from 229 R/M SCCHN patients treated with cetuximab and chemotherapy (n = 140) or chemotherapy alone (n = 89) were retrospectively analyzed for response rate (RR), progression‐free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and safety. Results Patients receiving cetuximab with chemotherapy demonstrated significant increase in RR (77.1% vs 44.9%, P = .0001), PFS (8.1 vs 6.1 months, P = .039), and OS (11.8 vs 8.0 months, P = .002) compared with patients receiving chemotherapy alone. Continuing cetuximab and changing chemotherapy combination (second line and beyond) in fit patients doubled OS (13.5 vs 6.1 months, P = .001). Adverse effects, except skin reactions (more in the cetuximab with chemotherapy group; P = .001), were similar in both groups. Conclusion Adding cetuximab to chemotherapy improved ORR, PFS, and OS in Indian R/M SCCHN patients, and cetuximab was well tolerated.