Chronotherapy in head and neck cancer (HNC): A systematic review.

Authors

null

Abdel-Azez Abu-Samak

Rutgers-Trinitas Regional Medical Center, Elizabeth, NJ

Abdel-Azez Abu-Samak , Mohammad Abu-Samak , Haider Al-Waeli , Wenji Cai , Mohammad Al-Tamimi , Faleh Tamimi , Belinda Nicolau

Organizations

Rutgers-Trinitas Regional Medical Center, Elizabeth, NJ, Faculty of Dental Medicine and Oral Health Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada, Faculty of Dentistry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada, Faculty of Dentistry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, College of Dental Medicine, QU Health, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

Research Funding

No funding received
None.

Background: Chronotherapy in cancer is optimizing the administration time of anti-cancer treatment according to circadian rhythm and cellular phase to improve the efficacy against tumor cells while decreasing side effects on normal cells. Several randomized controlled trials (RCT) evaluated chronotherapy of chemotherapy (chrono-chemotherapy: time-specific infusions) and/or radiotherapy (chrono-radiotherapy: morning radiotherapy) in various cancers and reported improved treatment efficacy and reduced toxicity. However, the effect of chronotherapy in HNC treatment is unclear as there are no prior systematic reviews reported. Therefore, this systematic review summarizes available clinical evidence on the effect of chrono-chemotherapy (CCT) and chrono-radiotherapy (CRT) on treatment response and adverse events in HNC adult patients. Methods: We conducted a systematic search using Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) in four online databases (OVID, Embase, CINAHL and Scopus), and 6078 articles identified were published in English between the databases' inception date and June 30, 2022. We included original peer-reviewed retrospective and prospective human studies investigating CCT and/or CRT versus conventional treatments in HNC patients. We excluded articles that contained no abstract, were unrelated to HNC, were pre-clinical and case reports, or did not include time-specific interventions in their methods. Results: 16 studies were finally included. Overall, studies were heterogenous in demographics, study design, intervention, and outcome measures, thus meta-analysis could not be performed. Nine studies (RCT = 3, Non-RCT = 2 & Retro = 4) investigated CRT. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) was mainly reported as the primary tumor (stage I-II). 7/9 studies reported a significant reduction in the incidence of oral mucositis (Grade ≥3) in the CRT group as opposed to conventional radiotherapy (RT) groups (p < 0.05). In contrast, treatment response was investigated in 4/9 studies and was insignificant (p > 0.05). Seven studies (RCT = 5 & Retro = 2) investigated CCT in patients diagnosed with SSC (stage II-IV). All included studies had concurrent RT. Different chemotherapeutic agents were used in combinations or as a single agent, namely Cisplatin, 5- Fu, Paclitaxel and Docetaxel. CCT groups in all studies achieved a significant reduction in Nausea & Vomiting (Grade ≥3), while a significant reduction in Leukopenia & Thrombocytopenia (Grade ≥3) was reported in 2 studies only (p < 0.05). Treatment response (OS and PFS) was not significantly different (p > 0.05) between both groups except 2 studies reported significantly higher ORR in chronotherapy groups (p < 0.05). Conclusions: CCT and CRT in HNC treatment in most studies provided evidence of toxicity reduction while treatment response was maintained. However, large multicentric randomized controlled studies with standardized protocols and optimized designs are still needed.

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Abstract Details

Meeting

2023 ASCO Annual Meeting

Session Type

Publication Only

Session Title

Publication Only: Head and Neck Cancer

Track

Head and Neck Cancer

Sub Track

Advanced/Metastatic Disease

Citation

J Clin Oncol 41, 2023 (suppl 16; abstr e18016)

DOI

10.1200/JCO.2023.41.16_suppl.e18016

Abstract #

e18016

Abstract Disclosures