Gemcitabine and Docetaxel in Treating Patients With Persistent, Recurrent, or Metastatic Head and Neck Cancer

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2012-06-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as gemcitabine and docetaxel, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving more than one drug (combination chemotherapy) may kill more tumor cells.

PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving gemcitabine together with docetaxel works in treating patients with persistent, recurrent, or metastatic head and neck cancer.

• Phase: Phase 2
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute
• Collaborator: National Cancer Institute (NCI)
• Treatments: Docetaxel; Gemcitabine

Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

• Histologically confirmed squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck

• Metastatic, persistent, or recurrent disease

• Measurable disease, defined as ≥ 1 unidimensionally measurable lesion ≥ 20 mm by conventional techniques OR ≥ 10 mm by spiral CT scan

• Must have had definitive surgery and/or radiation therapy AND received at least 1, but no more than 2, chemotherapy regimens, either given as primary therapy or adjuvant therapy before or after surgery and/or radiotherapy

• No active or prior CNS metastasis

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

Age

• 18 and over

Performance status

• SWOG 0-2

Life expectancy

• At least 12 weeks

Hematopoietic

• Granulocyte count > 1,500/mm^3

• Hemoglobin ≥ 8 g/dL

• Platelet count > 100,000/mm^3

Hepatic

• Bilirubin normal

• Meets 1 of the following criteria:

• Alkaline phosphatase (AP) normal AND AST or ALT ≤ 5 times upper limit of normal (ULN)

• AP ≤ 2.5 times ULN AND AST or ALT ≤ 1.5 times ULN

• AP ≤ 5 times ULN AND AST or ALT normal

Renal

• Creatinine < 1.5 mg/dL

Other

• Not pregnant or nursing

• Negative pregnancy test

• Fertile patients must use effective contraception during and for ≥ 3 months after completion of study treatment

• No peripheral neuropathy ≥ grade 2

• No active infection requiring systemic therapy

• No other malignancy within the past 5 years except adequately treated basal cell or squamous cell skin cancer or carcinoma in situ of the cervix or any other site

• No history of severe hypersensitivity reaction to study drugs or other drugs formulated with polysorbate 80

• No other serious condition that would preclude study treatment

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

Biologic therapy

• Not specified

Chemotherapy

• See Disease Characteristics

• No prior taxane or gemcitabine

• At least 4 weeks since prior chemotherapy and recovered

Endocrine therapy

• Not specified

Radiotherapy

• See Disease Characteristics

• At least 4 weeks since prior radiotherapy and recovered

Surgery

• See Disease Characteristics

Other

• No other concurrent therapy for this disease