Phase I study of hyperfractionated accelerated radiation and simultaneous Carboplatin therapy for advanced head and...

From 1990 to 1991 15 patients with advanced head and neck carcinomas underwent hyperfractionated accelerated radiotherapy (2 x 1.6 Gy/day, five days/week, total dose 64.0 to 67.2 Gy) and simultaneous intravenous application of Carboplatin (60 mg/m2, days 1 to 5 and 29 to 33) in a pilot study. Eleven patients had T4 and four had T3 tumours. At the end of treatment twelve patients had a complete tumour remission and in the others a partial tumour involution was seen. Although acute side-effects were more pronounced compared to conventional irradiation this treatment regimen is feasible and the initial complete remission rate of 80% is encouraging.