Fenretinide in Treating Patients With Recurrent or Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer

OBJECTIVES: * Determine the response rate, time to progression, median survival, and percent of 1-year survival in patients with recurrent or metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck treated with fenretinide. * Determine the pharmacokinetics and safety of this drug in these patients. OUTLINE: Patients receive oral fenretinide every 12 hours on days 1-7. Treatment repeats every 3 weeks for at least 3 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients who achieve complete response continue treatment for 1 year. PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 16-35 patients will be accrued for this study.