Clinical Pathways for Concurrent Chemoradiotherapy with Weekly Cisplatin

Abstract

The JCOG1008 trial revealed non-inferiority of chemoradiotherapy with weekly cisplatin to that with tri-weekly cisplatin in terms of the overall survival in patients with postoperative high-risk locally advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. We developed clinical pathways to standardize and optimize the weekly cisplatin treatment procedure, minimize adverse events, and promote the patients' understanding. The regimen ensures a sufficient amount of hydration during the short-term overnight hospitalization for the treatment. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients treated at our department, which revealed that the weekly cisplatin treatment reduced the duration of hospitalization, but increased the DPC fee per night as compared with tri-weekly cisplatin therapy, without attenuating the safety or intensity of the treatment. These findings suggest that introduction of a weekly cisplatin regimen is beneficial for patients, caregivers, as well as medical institutions.