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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Med Paediatr Oncol 2015; 36(03): 161-165
DOI: 10.4103/0971-5851.166725
ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Metronomic chemotherapy in platinum-insensitive failures and/or early failures postmultimodality management in oral cancers

Vijay M. Patil
Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
,
Vanita Noronha
Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
,
Amit Joshi
Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
,
Rakesh Pinninti
Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
,
Sachin Dhumal
Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
,
Atanu Bhattacharjee
Division of Clinical Research and Biostatistics, Malabar Cancer Centre, Kerala, India
,
Kumar Prabhash
Department of Medical Oncology, Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India
› Author Affiliations Financial support and sponsorship Nil.
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Abstract

Purpose: Oral cancer patients with platinum-resistant disease and or early failures have limited treatment options. This analysis was planned to study the efficacy of metronomic chemotherapy in this group of patients. Materials and Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of oral cancer patients who had squamous cell carcinoma and had an early failure and/or platinum-insensitive failure. Early failure was defined as a failure either within 1-month of adjuvant radiotherapy or within 6 months of chemoradiation (CTRT). A sample size of 100 patients was selected for this study. If ≥39 of 100 patients would have survived at 6 months with metronomic chemotherapy, then additional studies would be warranted. Results: The ECOG PS was 0-1 in 92 patients and 2 in 8 patients. The subsite of primary was buccal mucosa in 38 patients (38%), anterior two-third tongue (oral tongue) in 51 patients (51%), and alveolus in 11 patients (11%). The median estimated overall survival was 110 days (95% confidence interval [CI]: 85-134 days). The proportion of patients surviving at 6 months was 26.4% (95% CI: 17.9-35.6). Conclusion: Metronomic combination of methotrexate and celecoxib failed to meet its prespecified efficacy limit and should not be used in these patients as routine.

Keywords

Head and neck cancer - metronomic - oral cancer - palliative chemotherapy - platinum-insensitive - platinum refractory - platinum-resistant


Publication History

Article published online:
12 July 2021

© 2015. Indian Society of Medical and Paediatric Oncology. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.)

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