Palliative radiochemotherapy with bendamustin in locally advanced recurrent tumors of the head and neck

Background: In case of recurrent carcinoma of the head and neck region ther apeutic options are often limited due to intensive prior therapy and/or red uced physical condition of the patient. Nevertheless there is a need for pa lliative treatment to control symptoms Like pain, obstruction of the airway s, dysphagia and far hygienic and cosmetic reasons. Side effects, treatment time and achievable results have to be adjusted to the needs of this patie nt subgroup. Patients and Method: 14 patients (13 male, one female) with recurrent squam ous cell carcinoma of the head and neck region were studied. Average age wa s 56.1 years (range 42-76 years) (Table 1). Prior therapy: radiotherapy n = 14 (42-71.3 Gy), surgery: n = 10, chemotherapy: n = 13 (Table 2). Our pati ents received 100-150 mg/m(2) Bendamustin iv. (day 1 and 2) and involved fi eld irradiation 15 Gy (daily dose 3 Gy, day 1-5) (Figure 1). Remission stat us, time to progression, side effects and survival were documented. Results: Ten patients showed partial remissions, four patients had complete remissions of the treated Lesion (Figure 2), amelioration of 70% of tumor symptoms was documented (Figure 3). Time to progression was 2-104 weeks. Si de effects: 71% of patients had no significant side effects, CTC Grade 3 to 4 toxicity was seen in two patients (14%). Conclusion: The reported therapy regimen allows successful palliative treat ment of intensively pretreated patients with progressive recurrent tumors o f the head and neck. Side effects are tolerable even in patients with reduc ed physical condition.