CONCOMITANT CHEMORADIATION IN HEAD AND NECK CANCER: ROLE OF 5-FU ANALOGS.

Head and neck cancer forms the major chunk of cancer patients in developing country like India. About 2/3^rd of the patients present in locally advanced stage in which the cure rates are low. Concomitant chemoradiation with platinum compounds is the standard treatment for such patients as it offers organ and function preservation with better quality of life. MACH-NC update (2009) shows that concomitant chemoradiation provides an absolute survival benefit of 6.5% at 5 years. Many chemotherapeutic agents including 5-FU, taxanes and biologically targeted therapy have been investigated in an effort to maximize the locoregional and survival in locally advanced head and neck cancer. Oral chemotherapeutic agent gives the ease of self medication on daily basis without the need for hospital admission and intravenous infusion. Theoretically daily administration of oral chemotherapy agent mimics the continous infusion of a parenteral agent. Since infusional 5-FU along with Radical RT has achieved a complete response rate of 68% for 5-FU arm versus 56% for placebo arm (p=0.04) with the overall median survival of 33 months for 5-FU versus 25 months for placebo arm, Capecitabine (analog of 5-FU) in low doses have been used in concomitant setting for locally advanced head and neck cancer. Overall response rate observed has been 33-89% with manageable toxicity and near total patient compliance. The maximally tolerated dose to be given daily during radiation therapy is 500 mg/m² b.i.d. Lower dose doses of 250-350 mg/m² have also been used in concomitant with lesser toxicity and greater tolerability.