
"I am glad that taking part in a trial might help others on their own cancer journey.”
This trial looked at having chemotherapy at the same time as radiotherapy for head and neck cancer that had spread into surrounding body tissue. It also looked at having chemotherapy after radiotherapy. This trial was supported by Cancer Research UK.
Doctors already used surgery or radiotherapy to treat head and neck cancer. Some people had both types of treatment.
Researchers had also looked at chemotherapy, but were not sure how well it worked for this type of cancer. And they wanted to learn more about the side effects.
The aims of this trial were to see if chemotherapy at the same time as radiotherapy helped people with head and neck cancer. And to see if chemotherapy after radiotherapy, or after a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy, also helped.
The researchers found that having radiotherapy and chemotherapy at the same time lowered the risk of the cancer coming back or new cancers developing. But having chemotherapy after radiotherapy did not help.
The trial recruited 966 people with locally advanced head and neck cancer. Some had already had surgery to remove the cancer, but others had not. Everybody taking part had a course of radiotherapy between 3 weeks and 3 and a half weeks long.
The people who hadn’t had surgery were put into 1 of 4 groups.
The average length of time that people lived after treatment was
The number of people with bad side effects was highest in group 4 and lowest in group 1. The most common side effect was a sore mouth.
People who had already had surgery to remove the cancer had either radiotherapy alone, or radiotherapy and chemotherapy on days 1 and 14.
1 in 5 people (20%) who had radiotherapy and chemotherapy had bad side effects. But this was less than 1 in 10 (9%) in the group who had radiotherapy alone.
After 10 years of follow up, the researchers found that having radiotherapy and chemotherapy together helped people with locally advanced head and neck cancer to live longer. But having chemotherapy after radiotherapy did not help. They also found that chemotherapy did not help people who had already had surgery.
We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists () and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.
Please note: In order to join a trial you will need to discuss it with your doctor, unless otherwise specified.
Professor J Tobias
Cancer Research UK
University College London (UCL)
This is Cancer Research UK trial number CRUK/90/004.
If you have questions about the trial please contact our cancer information nurses
Freephone 0808 800 4040
"I am glad that taking part in a trial might help others on their own cancer journey.”