Joël Guigay, Cécile Ortholan, Damien Vansteene, Didier Cupissol, Caroline Even, Marie-Christine Kaminsky, Christian Sire, Emmanuel Blot, Philippe Debourdeau, Laurence Bozec, Esma Saada-Bouzid, Jérôme Fayette, Pierre Dalloz, Yoann Pointreau, Hervé Le Caer, Claire Falandry, Laurence Digue, Antoine Braccini, Stéphane Lopez, Pierre Guillet, Cécile Michel, Nadir Cheurfa, Dominique Schwob, Jean Bourhis, Cécile Mertens, Anne Aupérin
BACKGROUND: At present, there is no established standard treatment for frail older patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. We aimed to compare the efficacy and safety of cetuximab to those of methotrexate (the reference regimen) in this population. METHODS: This randomised, open-label, phase 3 trial was done at 20 hospitals in France. Patients aged 70 years or older, assessed as frail by the ELAN Geriatric Evaluation, with recurrent or metastatic head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in the first-line setting and with an Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status of 0-2 were eligible for inclusion...
March 2024: The Lancet. Healthy longevity