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Do you always use platinum/5-FU as the chemo backbone with pembrolizumab for recurrent/metastatic H&N cancer?

Although platinum/5-FU was used in KEYNOTE-048, can an alternative like carbo/paclitaxel be given since it may be better tolerated?
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What chemotherapy backbone do you use with PD-1 inhibitor for recurrent/metastatic H&N CA?

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3 Answers
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Medical Oncology · Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell
Answered on

I prefer to use carbo/taxol with pembrolizumab as well but there is no data to support this and I am having a hard time getting insurance providers to approve. It would be amazing if we can use Mednet platform to create guidelines that might help this cause.

Also, I tend to do chemo+pembro for all p...

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Medical Oncology · Florida Cancer Specialists
Answered on

I prefer carbo-paclitaxel-pembrolizumab not only because I believe it is better tolerated but also is easier for the patient (all given on day 1); however, I have encountered some payor issues with it

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Medical Oncology · H Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, University of South Florida
Answered on · Updated on

I generally use chemotherapy plus pembrolizumab when patients have a significant burden of disease and who may derive greater symptom benefit from a greater response rate. KEYNOTE-048 used platinum/5-FU as the backbone, though I have found anecdotally that the 5-FU can be hard to tolerate and logist...

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