Retrospective Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Dec 24, 2024; 15(12): 1468-1480
Published online Dec 24, 2024. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v15.i12.1468
Paclitaxel for second-line treatment of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck: A multicenter retrospective Italian study
Morena Fasano, Mario Pirozzi, Pasquale Vitale, Vincenzo Damiano, Graziana Ronzino, Stefano Farese, Vincenzo Carfora, Giuseppina Ciccarelli, Ilaria Di Giovanni, Sergio Facchini, Gregorio Cennamo, Michele Caraglia, Fortunato Ciardiello, Raffaele Addeo
Morena Fasano, Mario Pirozzi, Stefano Farese, Sergio Facchini, Fortunato Ciardiello, Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Naples 80120, Italy
Pasquale Vitale, Ilaria Di Giovanni, Gregorio Cennamo, Raffaele Addeo, Oncology Operative Unit, Hospital of Frattamaggiore, ASL Napoli 2 Nord, Naples 80027, Italy
Vincenzo Damiano, Department of Integrated Activities of Oncoematology, Diagnostica Per Immagini E Morfologica E Medicina Legale, Medical Oncology Unit, University Federico II, Naples 80120, Italy
Graziana Ronzino, Department of Oncology, Vito Fazzi Hospital, Lecce 73100, Italy
Vincenzo Carfora, Department of Radiation Oncology, ‘San Pio’ Hospital, Benevento 82100, Italy
Giuseppina Ciccarelli, Department of Pharmacology, ASL Napoli 2 Nord, Naples 80020, Italy
Michele Caraglia, Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Naples 80138, Italy
Michele Caraglia, Laboratory of Precision and Molecular Oncology, Biogem Scarl, Institute of Genetic Research, Contrada Camporeale, Ariano Irpino, Avellino 83031, Italy
Author contributions: Addeo R, Ciardiello F, Caraglia M, and Fasano M conceptualized the study; Cennamo G, Facchini S, Di Giovanni I, Ciccarelli G, Carfora V, Farese S, Ronzino G, and Damiano V provided the resources; Fasano M, Pirozzi M, and Vitale P wrote the original draft of the manuscript; Fasano M, Pirozzi M, Vitale P, Cennamo G, Facchini S, Di Giovanni I, Ciccarelli G, Carfora V, Farese S, Ronzino G, and Damiano V wrote, edited, and reviewed the manuscript; Addeo R, Ciardiello F, Caraglia M, and Fasano M supervised the project; Addeo R, Ciardiello F, Caraglia M, and Fasano M were involved in project administration; all authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The informed consent statement was reviewed and signed by the patients or their legal guardian. As per local guidelines, ASL Napoli 2 Nord Ethical Committee sanctioned an acknowledgement declaration in May 2015.
Informed consent statement: All patients provided written informed consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available upon reasonable request from the corresponding author at morena.fasano@uniacampania.it. Although consent was not obtained, the presented data are anonymized and risk of identification is low.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Morena Fasano, MD, PhD, Associate Research Scientist, Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, Via Antonio Vivaldi 45-81100 Caserta, Naples 80120, Italy. Morena.fasano@unicampania.it
Received: May 19, 2024
Revised: August 2, 2024
Accepted: August 26, 2024
Published online: December 24, 2024
Processing time: 155 Days and 12.3 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: The aim of this retrospective observational study was to evaluate the efficacy of paclitaxel as second-line treatment for patients with metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (SCCHN), providing unique real-world clinical experience. The observations reflect the experience of clinicians in an era before the advent of cancer immunotherapy. The results showed good efficacy of paclitaxel, and importantly, a favorable toxicity profile. These findings demonstrate that paclitaxel is a valid therapeutic option for patients with SCCHN who received prior therapy.