Clinical outcome of induction chemotherapy in locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

BACKGROUND AIM: We evaluated the efficacy and toxicities of three induction chemotherapy regimens in locally advanced head and neck cancer and assessed the clinical significance of human papillomavirus (HPV) in induction chemotherapy.Fifty-two patients were retrospectively evaluated; 12 patients received 5-fluorouracil-plus-cisplatin (FP); 24 patients received docetaxel-plus-cisplatin (DP); 16 patients received docetaxel, cisplatin, and 5-fluorouracil (TPF).The TPF regimen showed a trend towards a higher overall response rate and pathological complete response and led to a significantly higher rate of metabolic complete response. Patients with HPV-positive tumors exhibited a significantly higher pathological complete response rate than those with HPV-negative tumors. In univariate analysis, the prognostic factors significantly affecting progression-free survival were lymph node stage, and metabolic and pathological complete response.TPF induction chemotherapy tended to improve clinical outcome, with manageable toxicity. Pathological complete response was positively correlated with HPV positivity.