RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. Combining more than one chemotherapy drug with radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy and radiation therapy in treating patients with stage III or stage IV cancer of the hypopharynx or tongue.
OBJECTIVES: I. Determine the complete histologic response rate (which represents the rate of organ preservation) to induction with cisplatin/fluorouracil followed by radiotherapy plus cisplatin in patients with selected stage III/IV cancer of the hypopharynx or base of the tongue. II. Evaluate the feasibility of accruing and treating patients with this regimen in a multi-institutional setting. III. Determine the overall complete response rate in these patients. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to center and tumor site (hypopharynx vs base of tongue). Base of tongue stratum closed as of November 15, 1998. Regimen A: Patients receive cisplatin IV over 90 minutes on days 1 and 22 and fluorouracil IV over 120 minutes on days 1-5 and 22-26. Patients with measurable neck nodes discontinue therapy if disease has progressed by day 22. All patients who achieve complete or partial response at day 43 proceed to regimen B. All others proceed to resection followed by radiotherapy (off study). Regimen B (begins within 3-4 weeks of start of second induction course): Patients receive cisplatin IV over 90 minutes every 3 weeks for 3 courses. Concurrently, patients receive radiotherapy 5 days a week for 5.6 weeks. Patients are reassessed at 8-12 weeks after radiotherapy. Patients who are disease free are observed. Other patients undergo surgical resection of nodes and/or primary tumor. Patients are followed every 4-6 weeks for 1 year, every 2 months for 1 year, every 4 months for 2 years, every 6 months for 1 year, then annually thereafter. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: Up to 70 patients (35/tumor site) will be accrued for this study over 3.5 years.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NA
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
Cisplatin and 5-Fluorouracil
Cisplatin 100 mg/m2 IV infusion over 90 minutes Day 1 every 21 days for 2 cycles.
5-Fluorouracil 1,000 mg/m2/day continuous IV infusion over 24 hours Days 1 through 5 every 21 days for 2 cycles.
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center
Complete response
Complete disappearance of all measurable and evaluable disease. No new lesions, No disease related symptoms. No evidence of non-evaluable disease, including normalization of markers and other abnormal lab values. Specifically, the rate of organ preservation (no surgery required at the primary tumor site).
Time frame: 23 to 27 weeks after beginning treatment
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NONE
Enrollment
68
180 cGy per day, Days 1-5, every week for eight weeks
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