A Study to Assess Decreasing Radiation Therapy and Chemotherapy in People with Head and Neck Cancer

Full Title

A Pilot Study of Radiation De-Escalation for p16 Negative Oropharyngeal Cancer and p16-Negative or Positive Laryngeal and Hypopharyngeal Cancers

Purpose

The standard treatment for head and neck cancers includes high-dose radiation therapy and chemotherapy, but it commonly causes side effects. In this study, researchers are assessing a treatment for head and neck cancer that starts with standard high-dose radiation therapy and chemotherapy and then reduces the doses of both treatments. Patients then have surgery to remove lymph nodes and tissue from the neck area.

It is believed that this “de-escalated” approach could be just as effective as the standard therapy, but with fewer side effects. The chemotherapy drugs used in this study include cisplatin or carboplatin plus 5-fluorouracil and are given intravenously (by vein).

Contact

For more information or to see if you can join this study, please call Dr. Eric Sherman’s office at 646-608-3776.