Postoperative weekly cisplatin plus radiotherapy for high-risk locally advanced head and neck cancer

Standard adjuvant treatment for high-risk locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck is chemoradiotherapy with 3-weekly cisplatin 100 mg/m². However, the 3-weekly dosage is associated with high risk of toxities. The multicenter phase 2-3 JCOG1008 study in Japan was conducted to investigate the noninferiority of weekly chemoradiotherapy with cisplatin 40 mg/m². The study found that chemoradiotherapy with weekly cisplatin is noninferiorto 3-weekly cisplatin. Grade 3 or more neutropenia and infection were less frequent in the weekly arm. The authors conclude that weekly cisplatin plus radiotherapy can be possible treatment for patients with high-risk locally advanced HNSCC.