Supportive use of amifostine in patients with head and neck tumors undergoing radio-chemotherapy -: Is it possible to limit the duration of the application of amifostine?

Background: Amifostine is a new cancer-supporting agent to protect normal tissue in patients receiving radio-chemotherapy. The main question of our study is whether the application of amifostine can be limited on the duration of chemotherapy in patients with advanced head and neck tumors undergoing radio-chemotherapy. Patients and Methods: In a randomized study 14 patients were treated with amifostine (500 mg, day 1 to 5 and 29 to 33) during concurrent radio-chemotherapy with carboplatin (70 mg/m(2), day 1 to 5 and 29 to 33), 14 patients were treated without amifostine. The analyzed parameters were dermatitis, mucositis, skin temperature, white blood and platelet count, creatinine and scintigram of salivary glands. Median survival of the amifostine group was 19 months, of the control group 10 months. Results: There were no relevant differences in all analyzed parameters between both arms of the study. Conclusion: Our form of amifostine application is probably not able to obtain a relevant reduction of the toxicity of radio-chemotherapy.