Cancer Therapy Vol 1, 269-273, 2003.
Selective intraarterial cisplatin
chemotherapy in treatment of advanced malignant squamous cell carcinoma of
the head and neck
Afshin Teymoortash*, Jochen A. Werner
Department of
Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Philipps University of Marburg, Germany __________________________________________________________________________________
*Correspondence: Dr. Afshin
Teymoortash, Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Philipps University, Deutschhausstr. 3, 35037 Marburg,
Germany; Phone: +49-6421-2866478; Fax: +49-6421-2866367; e-mail:
teymoort@med.uni-marburg.de; www.ent-marburg.de
Key Words: advanced
head and neck cancer, intraarterial chemotherapy, cisplatin
Contributed by Dr. Werner
Summary
The prognosis for patients
with advanced head and neck cancer is poor and only a small fraction of these
patients are cured. The standard
therapy of advanced head and neck carcinomas consists of surgical resection of
the tumor with postoperative radiation. Chemotherapy has been added to combined
treatment modality of advanced head and neck cancer in attempts to improve
survival rates. Selective injection of the cytostatic agents into the tumor-supplying
artery is an attractive method to achieve higher doses of cytostatic agents in
the tumor with less systemic toxicity and low complication rate. A combination of regional chemotherapy by
intraarterial infusion of high doses of cisplatin with radiation therapy seems
to be an useful approach when planning integrated treatment for locally
advanced head and neck cancer.
Carcinomas of the upper aerodigestive tract detected
in early stage have in general a good prognosis after surgical therapy or
irradiation. However, this statement is not valid for advanced carcinomas of
stage III and IV according to UICC which represent about two third of the
carcinomas of this region.
The current results of therapy of advanced carcinomas
of the upper aerodigestive tract can only be compared with significant
restrictions as carcinomas in the stage III and IV may consist of tumors with
different prognosis. However, these data demonstrate an average rate of
locoregional recurrence of more than 50% and according to autopsy studies
approximately 50% of these patients develop distant metastasis (Dennington et
al, 1980). The five-year survival rate of advanced head and neck carcinomas
rarely achieves more than 25% (Vokes et al, 1993; Hart et al, 1995).
The standard therapy of advanced head and neck
carcinomas (stage III and IV) consists of surgical resection of the tumor in
combination with radiotherapy. Chemotherapy has been added to combined
treatment modality of advanced head and neck cancer in attempts to improve
survival rates and for organ function preservation. Chemotherapy is performed
in case of non-resectable tumors or in case of tumors of which resection would
lead to an unacceptable functional loss and in case of tumors for which
postoperative radiation therapy alone is unsatisfactory.
Cisplatin, 5-fluorouracil, and mitomycin C belong to the most effective chemotherapeutics in the treatment of squamous cell carcinomas of the head and neck. By combination with radiotherapy their radiosensitizing effects lead to a higher effectiveness of the therapy (Britzel et al, 1998). So often a slightly higher tumor control rate as well as survival rate could be achieved by application of simultaneous radiochemotherapy (Wendt et al, 1998; Pignon et al, 2000).
Antitumoral chemotherapy is generally applied systemically and transported through the blood circulation to all organs of the body. Thus other non-diseased organs are concerned beside the tumor. This could be accompanied by significant systemic side effects. The toxic effect to proliferating cells, as for example the bone marrow and the mucosa lead to a reduction of the chemotherapeutic dose. Applying a standard dose often results in a subtherapeutic intratumoral concentration of the chemotherapeutics which reduces the effectiveness of this therapy concept. Another problem with chemotherapy is the development of drug resistance. In vitro and in vivo studies were able to describe a rapid development of resistances against cisplatin during treatment (Inoue et al, 1985; Andrews et al, 1990).
Due to the poor prognosis of patients suffering from
advanced head and neck cancers and the often unsatisfactory results of standard
therapies, there is an urgent need for new therapeutical strategies. Especially
in the last years several new therapeutical procedures for advanced head and
neck carcinomas were developed and applied which are not yet included in the
generally accepted methods. These are immunotherapy, photodynamic therapy, gene
therapy as well as selective intraarterial chemotherapy.
The investigations performed by Robbins and co-workers
gave new impulses to intraarterial chemotherapy the oncologic results of which
are very promising. Robbins interprets their results in that way that the
intraarterial chemotherapy with cisplatin coupled with radiotherapy allow a
long-term survival (Robbins et al, 1997; Kerber et al, 1998; Robbins et al,
1999a).
Already in 1950, Klopp et al. reported that a more
important effectiveness of chemotherapeutics can be achieved by a higher
concentration of the intraarterial application. The increased effectiveness of
intraarterial chemotherapy is based on the possibility of applying an up to ten
times higher dose of cisplatin in comparison to intravenous standard therapy.
This procedure should be sufficient to overcome the cellular drug resistance of
cisplatin that rapidly develops (von Hoff et al, 1986; Teicher et al, 1987).
The intraarterial application of cisplatin allows a higher effectiveness of
chemotherapy with lower systemic toxicity which can be even favored by an
accompanying therapy with thiosulfates. Thiosulfates can develop a soluble
complex without toxicity due to covalent binding with cisplatin (Howell and
Taetle, 1980). A disappearance of the active drug due to neutralization in the
plasma compartment acts functionally as an increase in clearance.
The particular effectiveness of the intraarterial
application of chemotherapeutics is based on the first passing of the drug
through the tumor site. When the chemotherapeutics have reached the venous
circulation they have the same effect compared to systemic application. The
relative advantage of the intraarterial chemotherapy in comparison to
intravenous application depends on the plasma clearance of cisplatin which is
increased by the neutralizing effect of thiosulfates. This is also inversely
proportional to the plasma flow of the tumor (Campbell et al, 1983). A
reduction of the plasma flow of the tumor can be achieved by a rapid
application of the medicament as well as the application in small arteries.
In the context of this therapeutical type the
condition of the vessels providing the tumour must be considered. The
experience of the first years of application of intraarterial chemotherapy made
clear that the initial tumor resection and irradiation significantly influences
the vascular provision of the tumors. Thus a higher effect of the
chemotherapeutics could be achieved in cases of application as initial therapy
with no prior surgery or irradiation possible impairing the blood supply of the
tumor (Steffens et al, 1980). First experiences with intraarterial chemotherapy
demonstrated furthermore that an isolated intraarterial chemotherapy is
associated with a high rate of local recurrences. It could be postulated that
this therapy should be considered as a part of a whole therapeutical concept
with surgery and radiotherapy (Kreidler and Petzel, 1983).
The higher effectiveness
of intraarterial chemotherapy in comparison to systemic chemotherapy could
already be shown by animal experimental studies (Harker and Stephens, 1992). In
the following sections the treatment results of advanced head and neck
carcinomas by application of intraarterial cisplatin chemotherapy will be
discussed.
The precondition for the mentioned effect of
intraarterial chemotherapy is the targeted selective injection of the
cytostatic agent into the tumor-supplying artery. This is performed by means of
different, specifically developed catheter systems. The so-called bypass method
consisted in creating by vascular surgery a directly subcutaneously located
cervical vessel which can be identified easily and cannulated repeatedly. By
this method the external carotid artery was prolonged end-to-end by an
autogenic saphenal vein graft and anastomosed with the common carotid artery
end-to-side more proximally (Scheel, 1981). Further implantable pump systems
were inserted for the application of chemotherapeutics in the past (Backer et
al, 1987). Nowadays frequently chemotherapy is applied via angiographically
guided selective placement of microcatheters into the tumor-supplying artery by
means of a transfemoral access which can be performed repeatedly without
significant complications.
The intraarterial chemotherapy was performed initially
with cisplatin (100-200 mg/m2 per week) in combination with
intravenous sodium thiosulfate (9 g/m2 for 30 minutes, followed by
12 g/m2) for a maximum of four cycles (Robbins et al, 1992, 1994a,
1994b, 1996a). Later a combination of the intraarterial cisplatin therapy with
radiotherapy was performed. Via a Seldinger catheter high doses of cisplatin
were applied intraarterially coupled with simultaneous intravenous
neutralization with sodium thiosulfate. This treatment was repeated and
completed by parallel radiotherapy which served to reduce the total duration of
the therapy and at the same time to increase the toxicity to the tumor.
Radiotherapy of the tumor and its lymphatic pathways was performed in a dose of
1.8 to 2.0 Gy per day in 35 fractions for seven to eight weeks (total dose, 68
to 70 Gy). The intraarterial cisplatin therapy was performed on the first,
eighth, fifteenth, and 22nd day of irradiation. Cisplatin was
applied selectively via a microcatheter into the tumor-supplying artery for
three to five minutes. It was dissolved in 400 ml of a electrolyte solution and
transfused in a dose of 150 mg/m2 each. Simultaneously the
intravenous infusion of 9 g/m2 sodium thiosulfate was performed for
30 minutes, followed by 12 g/m2 for two hours. Pretherapeutically an
intravenous hydratation was made with two liters of electrolyte solution.
Posttherapeutically again an intravenous hydratation was performed with one
liter of electrolyte solution. Patients with a clinically staged N2 or N3 neck
underwent selective neck dissection two months after the beginning of therapy
(Robbins et al, 1999a).
In the data established by Robbins et al. (1999b) 83
patients with intraarterial chemotherapy and radiotherapy were treated
according to the above mentioned pattern. The patients suffered from carcinomas
of the oral cavity, the oropharynx, the hypopharynx, and the larynx. 72 (87%)
of the patients had four cycles, 9 (11%) of the patients had three cycles and 2
(3%) of the patients had less than three cycles of cisplatin. After a follow-up
period of 17 to 61 months (median 24 months) 76 of the patients allowed a
statement on the response rate of the therapy. Referring to the primary tumor
70 patients (92%) showed a complete response, 5 patients (6%) revealed a
partial response, and in one patient (1%) no response could be observed. Neck
dissection was performed in 30 of 52 patients with N2 or N3 neck. Referring to
the cervical lymph nodes, 64 patients (84%) had a complete response and 11
(14%) showed a partial response. Only one patient revealed a response neither
in the area of the primary tumor nor in the cervical region. After a follow-up
period of 30 months an average survival rate of 58% and a five-year survival
rate of 40% could be observed.
In analogy to these results most of the applied
therapeutical procedures with intraarterial chemotherapy combined with
radiotherapy revealed an overall response rate of about 90%. These recent
results are demonstrated in Table 1.
In an investigation on the effectiveness of
intraarterial chemotherapy 45 patients suffering from T4 carcinoma with
cartilage or bone infiltration were compared to 90 patients suffering from T4
carcinoma without cartilage or bone infiltration (Samant et al, 2001). The
complete response rate of the first group amounted to 66.7% which reveals no
significant difference to the second group with 71.1%. The two-year survival
rate of both patient populations showed no significant difference (46.3% versus
36.9%).
The analysis of the quality of life after
radiochemotherapy with intraarterial application of cisplatin showed an initial
reduction of the quality of life for the patients with advanced oropharyngeal,
hypopharyngeal, and laryngeal carcinomas. However, generally an amelioration of
the quality of life could be confirmed after the end of the therapy and the
values even exceeded the pretherapeutical number of points six months after the
end of the therapy (Murry et al, 1998). In another investigation the quality of
life of patients suffering from head and neck cancer of stage IV who were
treated according to the above mentioned radio/ chemotherapeutical concept was
analyzed. Appropriate questionnaires were evaluated prior to treatment as well
as three, six, and twelve months after therapy (Ackerstaff et al, 2002). This
evaluation also revealed that the quality of life deteriorated initially in
order to improve between the third and twelfth month.
Complications resulting from the application of the
catheter which have to be treated and vascular complications during angiography
and chemotherapy are relatively rare. In a study of 105 patients 385
transfemoral catheterization of the external carotid artery were performed.
Gemmete (2003) reported about two asymptomatic dissections of the distal common
carotid artery and 22 hematomas which did not need therapy as well as acutely
arising occlusions in the area of the femoral and iliacal artery in three
patients.
Because the tumor is specifically treated via an
angiographical microcatheter in the context of this therapeutical concept the
systemic side effects occur more rarely than in case of intravenous
chemotherapy. Additionally the overlapping intravenous application of the
cisplatin antagonist sodium thiosulfate neutralizes the systemic side effects.
This therapy reduces the cytostatics-related nausea, especially when the
maxillary artery and thus the arteria meningia media are not located in the
area of transfusion. However, an antiemetic therapy is generally recommended.
Renal insufficiencies can be sufficiently excluded by an accompanying
intravenous hydratation (Robbins et al, 1996b).
During the 323 transfemoral selective intraarterial
transfusions a severe chemotoxicity was observed in 5% of the cases. In nine
cases this included severe gastrointestinal side effects, in seven cases severe
hematological side effects, in one case even neurotoxicity and one death during
therapy secondary to a pulmonary embolus. A serious ototoxicity or
nephotoxicity did not occur. 25 (30%) of the patients developed a mucositis of
degree III to VI. In six patients a neural dysfunction could be observed while
three of these patients suffered from a cerebrovascular accident and three of
them a transient ischaemic attack.
Table
1. Evaluable response rate referring
to the advanced primary tumor for intraarterial chemotherapy combined with
radiotherapy
|
author |
complete response |
partial response |
nonresponse |
|
|
Samant et al, 1999 |
24 |
22 (88%) |
1 (4%) |
1 (4%) |
|
Robbins et al, 1999b |
76 |
70 (92%) |
5 (6%) |
1 (1%) |
|
Fuwa et al, 2000 |
32 |
21 (66%) |
10 (31%) |
1 (3%) |
|
Regine et al, 2000 |
20 |
18 (90%) |
2 (10%) |
0 |
|
Benazzo et al, 2000 |
40 |
11 (28%) |
25 (63%) |
4 (10%) |
|
Samant et al, 2001 |
112 |
94 (84%) |
15 (13%) |
3 (3%) |
|
Furutani et al, 2002 |
37 |
31 (84%) |
4 (11%) |
2 (5%) |
Three
patients developed pulmonary embolism while one patient died due to this
pulmonary embolism, the other patients died after the end of the therapy due to
aspiration pneumonia and/or coronary ischemia (Robbins et al, 1999b).
An analysis of swallowing and speech was performed of
14 patients suffering from head and neck cancer who were treated with
intraarterial chemotherapy and irradiation in comparison to 16 patients treated
with systemic radiochemotherapy. By means of videofluorography and articulation
tests no significant difference could be found in comparison to the patients
having undergone systemic radiochemotherapy one month after the end of the
therapy (Newton et al, 2002). In another study 47 patients undergoing the same
treatment were examined concerning the weight loss and swallowing prior to
therapy and after the end of the treatment. These patients lost about 10% of
their pretherapeutic weight and showed a reduction of the eating behavior. 18
months after the end of the therapy most of the patients were able to eat
normally and to keep their weight. The percentage of patients without dysphagia
sank during treatment from 38% (18 patients) to 21% (10 patients), and after 18
months after the end of the therapy it increased to 72% (34 patients). The
complaints of dysphagia during therapy were in particular the result of
mucositis and nausea. While prior to therapy 4 patients (9%) had a PEG tube 12
patients (26%) needed such a probe during treatment. After the end of the
therapy up to 18 months afterwards the need of a PEG tube was reduced to 13% (6
patients) (Newman et al, 1998).
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Dr. J. A. Werner
Dr. A. Teymoortash