Palliative chemotherapy with or without cetuximab in recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: Indian tertiary care retrospective analysis

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 chemot...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Head & neck 2020-05, Vol.42 (5), p.955-962
Main Authors: Bahl, Ankur, Bhatia, Komal, Choudhary, Pragati, Singhla, Suhas, Shrivastava, Gunjan, Bal, Jaspriya, Anand, Anil K., Chaturvedi, Harit, Dua, Bharat
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
cetuximab
Chemotherapy
Head & neck cancer
Head and neck
head and neck cancer
Immunotherapy
Metastases
Metastasis
metastatic disease
Monoclonal antibodies
Palliation
palliative
recurrent disease
Squamous cell carcinoma
Targeted cancer therapy
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Summary: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.
ISSN:1043-3074
1097-0347
DOI:10.1002/hed.26070