Radiation Therapy With or Without Chemotherapy in Treating Patients With Advanced Cancer of the Larynx

• Status: Completed
• Trial end date: 2013-11-01
• Target enrollment: 0
• Participant gender: All

Summary

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. It is not yet known if chemotherapy plus radiation therapy is more effective than radiation therapy alone in treating patients with advanced cancer of the larynx.

PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy in treating patients with advanced cancer of the larynx.

• Phase: Phase 3
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers?: No

Details

• Lead Sponsor: Radiation Therapy Oncology Group
• Collaborators: Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group; National Cancer Institute (NCI); Southwest Oncology Group
• Treatments: Cobalt; Fluorouracil

Criteria

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Biopsy-proven, previously untreated, squamous cell carcinoma of the glottic and supraglottic larynx that would normally require total laryngectomy Stage III/IV disease (excluding T1 and M1) Endoscopic tumor staging required within 4 weeks of entry Tumors must be considered resectable and potentially curable with conventional surgery and radiotherapy T4 disease limited to: Up to 1 cm invasion of the base of tongue Questionable cartilage invasion on CT (clinically T3) Measurable disease required No synchronous primary tumors No subglottic tumors

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS: Age: 18 and over Performance status: Karnofsky 60%-100% Hematopoietic: (obtained within 3 weeks of entry) WBC at least 3,500 Platelets at least 100,000 Hepatic: Not specified Renal: (obtained within 2 weeks of entry) Creatinine clearance at least 50 mL/min (measured or calculated) Serum calcium normal Cardiovascular: Status adequate to tolerate all protocol therapy Pulmonary: Status adequate to tolerate all protocol therapy Other: Nutritional status adequate to tolerate all protocol therapy Mental status adequate to follow instructions and keep appointments No second malignancy except nonmelanomatous skin cancer (Patients who have been disease-free for at least 3 years following treatment for a prior cancer may be eligible at the discretion of the protocol chairman) Negative pregnancy test required of fertile women Effective contraception required of fertile women

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY: Biologic therapy: No prior therapy Chemotherapy: No prior therapy Endocrine therapy: No prior therapy Radiotherapy: No prior radiotherapy to the head and neck Surgery: No prior therapy