Laryngeal
preservation and laryngectomy-free survival of patients with hypopharyngeal or
laryngeal carcinoma, can be improved by addition of cetuximab to radiotherapy according
to a recent study published by Bonner et
al. from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
The
authors examined the rates of laryngeal preservation and laryngectomy-free
survival in a randomized trial involving patients with cancer of the larynx or
hypopharynx. A total of 168 patients from 73 centers in the US and 14 other
countries were randomized to cetuximab and radiotherapy (CRT; 90 patients) or
radiotherapy alone (78 patients).
The
researchers found the rates of laryngeal preservation (no need for
laryngectomy) were 87.9 and 85.7% for CRT and radiotherapy alone, respectively,
at two years. Median overall survival was 27 months in the CRT group and 21
months in the radiotherapy-alone group. There were no differences observed in
overall quality of life, need for a feeding tube, or speech.
