Induction Chemotherapy Followed by Chemoradiotherapy for Head and Neck Cancer

Given the toxicity of high dose cisplatin, attention has focused on identifying patients at lower risk for failure who may potentially benefit from less aggressive chemoradiotherapy approaches. HPV-positive Head and Neck Cancer responds favorably to radiation therapy. This has prompted investigators to suggest that patients with these cancers might be "over-treated" and unnecessarily subjected to the toxicity of intensive chemoradiotherapy with excessively high radiation doses. This study will select patients with HPV-positive Head and Neck cancer for attenuated therapy and may have important implications for individualization of care in the future. The regimen of carboplatin and paclitaxel was selected for the induction chemotherapy phase because of its ease of administration, improved toxicity profile, high rates of dose delivery, and excellent published results showing high response rates and overall survival. This study will use induction chemotherapy primarily as a means to select HPV-positive Head and Neck Cancer patients, who may benefit from significant radiation dose de-intensification in the concurrent chemoradiotherapy phase of treatment. The rationale for this risk-adapted approach to local therapy based on HPV status is to administer effective comprehensive treatment individualized at diagnosis and after assessment of response to induction chemotherapy (for patients with HPV-positive tumors), thus avoiding unnecessary and potentially toxic treatment, and hence optimizing the therapeutic ratio.