A phase II study of cetuximab-based neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatment strategies, with or without surgery, in patients with locally very advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity.
e16050 Background: The purpose is to evaluate the efficacy of sequential regimen using cetuximab-based doublet neoadjuvant chemotherapy, followed by surgery, if tumors resectable, and adjuvant cetuximab-based chemoradiotherapy in locally very advanced OSCC patients. Methods: Patients with T4a/b or N2b/c or N3 OSCC were enrolled to determine the response rate of cetuximab, cisplatin, and 5-FU neo-adjuvant chemotherapy. Cetuximab (400 mg/m2 loading, followed by 250 mg/m2 weekly x 6 weeks) was combined with 2 3-weekly cycles of cisplatin (100 mg/m2) and 5-FU (1000 mg/m2 x 3 days) as neo-adjuvant. Patients whose tumors became operable after neoadjuvant underwent radical surgery followed by adjuvant weekly cetuximab (250 mg/m2), cisplatin (30 mg/m2) and XRT (up to 70 Gy). Patients whose tumors remained inoperable after neoadjuvant received weekly cetuximab (250 mg/m2), cisplatin (30 mg/m2) and XRT (up to 70 Gy). Results: 33 patients were enrolled from Dec. 2009 to Jan. 2011. Average age was 47.3 years. 51.5% had primary lesion in buccal mucosa and 21.2% on tongue. 66.7% and 27.2% had T4b or T4a disease respectively, while 72.7% had N2b/N2c/N3 disease. 28/33 completed treatment course. On ITT analysis, 39.4% (13/33) had partial response and 48.5% (16/33) had stable disease after neoadjuvant. 42.4% (14/33) underwent radical surgery after neoadjuvant, while another 9% (3/33) underwent surgery after bio-chemoradiation. The 1 year disease free survival (resected group), progression free survival (ITT group), and overall survival (ITT group) were 48.8%, 73.2%, and 51.7% respectively. The most common grade 3/ 4 adverse event in neo-adjuvant phase was vomiting (16.1%), while mucositis (75%) and dermatitis (42.8%) accounted for major grade 3/ 4 adverse events during bio-chemoradiation. Conclusions: Cetuximab based sequential regimen was efficacious and well tolerated in improving treatment outcomes in locally very advanced OSCC patients with manageable side effects.