Clinical study of concurrent chemoradiation with superselective intra-arterial docetaxel-nedaplatin for oral cancers

Recently, superselective intra-arterial chemotherapy concurrent with radiotherapy has become popular in advanced head and neck carcinoma treatment. Twenty patients with advanced oral cancers were treated by radiation (66 Gy) and chemotherapy with superselective intra-arterial docetaxel (40 mg/mm2)-nedaplatin (80 mg/mm2) infusion between 2003 and 2009. Complete response in the primary and regional cervical region was obtained in 17 (85%) out of the 20 patients. Five-year survival rate was 74.1% and major adverse effects were leukopenia and mucositis. Five patients (25%) developed distant metastasis post-treatment. Intra-arterial docetaxel-nedaplatin infusion concurrent with radiotherapy is an effective treatment for advanced oral cancers but severe complications and distant metastasis are problems that need to be solved. (author)