Weekly Docetaxel in Patients with Platinum-Refractory Metastatic or Recurrent Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Head and Neck(SCCHN)

Objective：The objective of the study was to investigate the efficacy and tolerability of weekly docetaxel in patients with platinum-refractory recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN). Methods：Patients fulfilling the following criteria were enrolled: histologically confirmed SCCHN；documented pro-gressive disease after platinum-based treatment；Eastern Co-operative Oncology Group 0-2; measurable disease; not can-didates for local therapy. Docetaxel (35mg/m 2 ) was admini-stered for 3 weeks every 4 weeks for a maximum of 6 cycles. Results：Twenty three patients were treated. All patients were assessable for toxicity and response. The overall res-ponse rate was 13.0% (3/23) and disease control rate was 34.7% (8/23). Median progression-free and overall survivals were 9 weeks (95% CI, 7.6 to 10.4 weeks) and 29 weeks (95% CI, 10.8 to 47.1 weeks), respectively. Most common hematological toxicities were grade 1-2 anemia (6/23, 26.1%). Most nonhematological toxicities were mild and manageable. There was no treatment-related death. Conclusions：Weekly docetaxel regimen has good clini-cal activity with an acceptable toxicity in patients with plati-num-refractory SCCHN