Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of cetuximab plus platinum-based chemotherapy for patients specifically diagnosed with recurrent or metastatic oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).
Methods
We conducted a multicenter retrospective observational study of patients who underwent first-line cetuximab plus platinum-based chemotherapy between December 2012 and June 2015. 65 patients received weekly cetuximab (week 1, 400 mg/m2; subsequent weeks, 250 mg/m2) plus a maximum of six 3-weekly cycles of cisplatin (80 or 100 mg/m2, day 1) or carboplatin (at an area under the curve of 5 mg/mL/min as a 1-h intravenous infusion on day 1) and 5-fluorouracil (800 or 1000 mg/m2/day, days 1–4). Patients with stable disease who received cetuximab plus platinum-based chemotherapy continued to receive cetuximab until disease progression or unacceptable toxicities, whichever occurred first.
Results
The median follow-up was 10.5 (range 1.2–34.2) months. The best overall response and the disease control rates were 46.2 and 67.7%, respectively. The median overall survival and progression-free survival rates were 12.1 and 7.8 months, respectively. The most common grades 3–4 adverse events were skin rash (9.2%) followed by leukopenia (6.2%). None of the adverse events were fatal.
Conclusion
The results of our multicenter retrospective study, which was the largest of its kind to date, suggest that first-line cetuximab plus platinum-based chemotherapy is suitable and well-tolerated for the systemic therapy of recurrent or metastatic OSCC.
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Acknowledgements
This study was not supported by any external funding source. We would like to thank Editage (http://www.editage.jp) for English language editing.
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The need for informed consent was waived by the Institutional Review Boards of each participating institution because of the retrospective nature of the study.
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Yanamoto, S., Umeda, M., Kioi, M. et al. Multicenter retrospective study of cetuximab plus platinum-based chemotherapy for recurrent or metastatic oral squamous cell carcinoma. Cancer Chemother Pharmacol 81, 549–554 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-018-3531-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00280-018-3531-x