[A clinical study of neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy with docetaxel and cisplatin for oral cancers]

Docetaxel is classified among the microtubule-inhibiting compounds called taxanes, which are currently used as agents to treat head and neck cancers. To investigate the efficacy and safety of a neoadjuvant radiation therapy combined with docetaxel/cisplatin, we used this combination to treat 6 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma. The patients received a low-dose fraction of docetaxel (20 mg/m2/week; total dose: 123.0 +/- 35.0 mg) and cisplatin (5 mg/m2/day, 5 days a week; total dose: 160.0 +/- 42.1 mg) combined with simultaneous irradiation of 40 Gy. Of the 6 patients, 5 (83.3%) showed a partial response (PR) and 1 showed no response (NC). Pathological efficacy was revealed in 4 patients (66.7%). All patients experienced stomatitis over grade 2, and 4 experienced neutropenia.