When would you use concurrent cetuximab with radiation for a patient with H&N cancer who is not a good candidate for concurrent chemotherapy?
Routinely? Only with oropharyngeal cancer etc.? Given that low expression of EGFR subset did better, do you believe there is a true benefit in cetuximab when added to radiation and no chemo?
Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution
Additional data has been added since I have addressed this question in 2015: the role of concurrent cet-RT in HNC patients who cannot receive chemotherapy. The large majority of these patients are elderly with heavy smoking/drinking history, and typically have non-HPV related Sqcca associated with ...
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Answer from: Radiation Oncologist at Academic Institution
The characteristics of oropharyngeal cancers that are HPV-related are low EGFR expression. I thought that HPV-related cancers in heavy smokers would show higher EGFR expression than in non-smokers, explaining the somewhat lower outcome of smokers. However, our study found that all HPV(+) opc patient...