Authors: Francesco Caponigro Giacomo Cartenì Jean Pierre Droz Amalia Milano Wayne B Davis Patricia Pollard
Publish Date: 2007/09/19
Volume: 62, Issue: 2, Pages: 209-214
Abstract
In the present study 19 patients with incurable recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer were treated with rubitecan at the initial dose of 15 mg/m2 × 5 days per week An appropriate dose modification program was set up according to the observed toxicitiesThirteen out of the 19 treated patients were formally evaluable for tumor response Ten patients had a disease progression and three patients had a stabilization of disease as their best response The mean duration of stable disease was 141 days Median survival was 16 weeks range 2–22 weeks Three patients died during the study or less than a month after their last dose of study medication Hematologic toxicity was serious in this study since four patients discontinued their participation because of severe anemia The drug was also associated with grade 1–4 neutropenia and with 1–3 thrombocytopenia
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