Current Clinical Trials

Standard treatment options:

1. Selected patients may be retreated with moderate-dose external-beam radiation therapy using limited ports and an intracavitary or interstitial radiation boost to the site of recurrence.[1-4]



2. In highly selected patients, surgical resection of recurrent lesions may be considered.



3. If a patient has metastatic disease or local recurrence that is no longer amenable to surgery or radiation therapy, chemotherapy should be considered.[5-7]

Treatment options under clinical evaluation:

• Clinical trials such as those evaluating chemotherapy and interferon should be considered.[8]

Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's PDQ Cancer Clinical Trials Registry that are now accepting patients with recurrent nasopharyngeal cancer. The list of clinical trials can be further narrowed by location, drug, intervention, and other criteria.

General information about clinical trials is also available from the NCI Web site.

References

1. Mendenhall WM, Riggs CE Jr, Cassisi NJ: Treatment of head and neck cancers. In: DeVita VT Jr, Hellman S, Rosenberg SA, eds.: Cancer: Principles and Practice of Oncology. 7th ed. Philadelphia, Pa: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005, pp 662-732. 
   
   
2. Vikram B, Strong EW, Shah JP, et al.: Intraoperative radiotherapy in patients with recurrent head and neck cancer. Am J Surg 150 (4): 485-7, 1985.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
3. Pryzant RM, Wendt CD, Delclos L, et al.: Re-treatment of nasopharyngeal carcinoma in 53 patients. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 22 (5): 941-7, 1992.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
4. Hwang JM, Fu KK, Phillips TL: Results and prognostic factors in the retreatment of locally recurrent nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys 41 (5): 1099-111, 1998.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
5. Al-Sarraf M: Head and neck cancer: chemotherapy concepts. Semin Oncol 15 (1): 70-85, 1988.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
6. Jacobs C, Lyman G, Velez-García E, et al.: A phase III randomized study comparing cisplatin and fluorouracil as single agents and in combination for advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. J Clin Oncol 10 (2): 257-63, 1992.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
7. Foo KF, Tan EH, Leong SS, et al.: Gemcitabine in metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma of the undifferentiated type. Ann Oncol 13 (1): 150-6, 2002.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   
8. Boussen H, Cvitkovic E, Wendling JL, et al.: Chemotherapy of metastatic and/or recurrent undifferentiated nasopharyngeal carcinoma with cisplatin, bleomycin, and fluorouracil. J Clin Oncol 9 (9): 1675-81, 1991.  [PUBMED Abstract]
   
   

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