Abstract: Objective To investigate the clinical effects of panitumumab and paclitaxel as the first-line treatment in patients with stage II recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer. Methods Eighty-six patients with stage II recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer were enrolled in this study. According to the different treatment methods, the patients were divided into the control group and the study group, respectively. The control group was administered paclitaxel injection in combination with chemotherapy by continuous intravenous infusion at a dose of 70-100 mg/m² twice daily for 3 days. The study group was treated with paclitaxel alone along with panitumumab injection on the fourth day by intravenous drip at a dose of 80-85 mg/m² once daily. Both the groups were treated for one month. The short-term efficacy, adverse reactions, survival rate, and quality of life before and after the treatment were compared. Results The effective response rates in the study group and the control group were 83.7% and 60.5%, respectively, which were significantly different(χ2=15.472, P<0.001). The incidence of adverse reactions in the study group and the control group were 7.0% and 27.9%, respectively, which were significantly different(χ2=12.648, P<0.001). The severity of adverse reactions in the study group were Grade Ⅰ(1.3%), Ⅱ(1.3%), and Ⅲ(1.3%), and control group(5.6%)(11.6%). There were 3 cases(7.0%)of grade Ⅲ and 1 case(2.3%)of grade Ⅳ adverse reactions. There was a statistically significant difference in the severity of adverse reactions between the two groups(χ2 were 5.394, 6.391, 5.125, and 4.935 respectively; P were all< 0.001). The 3 years-OS and RS in the study group were 93.0% and 95.3%, respectively, which were significantly higher than those in the control group(88.4% and 86.0%)(χ2 were 9.26 and 8.89, respectively, P were all< 0.001). The scores were 60.5% and 65.1%, which were significantly higher than those in the control group(55.8% and 58.1%)(P were all< 0.001 ). The quality of life scores in the two groups before treatment were: control group, 66.3±5.1, 63.2±3.5, 64.1±4.2, and 64.3±3.1 points; and study group, 67.1±4.6), 62.2±4.3, 63.9±4.8, and 62.9±4.2 points, which were not significantly different(P=0.46, 0.49, 0.39, and 0.50). After treatment, the quality of life scores in the study group(80.5±4.8, 80.3±3.8, 81.5±5.1, and 80.6±4.8 min)was significantly better than that in the control group(74.2±4.8, 71.2±3.3, 71.6±3.8, and 74.3±3.5 min)(P<0.001). Conclusions The therapeutic effects of panitumumab combined with paclitaxel in patients with stage II recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer were good, and the incidence of various adverse reactions was less. The patients had high long-term survival rate, long survival time, and good quality of life.

Key words: Head and neck neoplasms, Panitan single resistance, Taxol, Treatment outcome