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 ¹. 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 ².

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]