determine tumor response using fluorodeoxyglucose (fdg)- positron emission tomography (pet)/computed tomography (ct) before and after cetuximab in patients with head and neck cancer

Conditions: Carcinoma, Squamous Cell

Summary: the purpose of this study is to collect data and evaluate how the tumor is broken down in response to standard of care cetuximab treatment by evaluating the fdg-pet/ct scans, toxicity, see how well the fdg-pet/ct scans predict response to treatment and survival.

primary endpoint to compare the suv (standardized uptake value) at up to three target tumor sites as assessed by fdg-pet/ct of eligible patients at baseline and then after eight weeks of treatment with cetuximab. secondary endpoints * to determine the overall tumor metabolic response (complete metabolic response, partial metabolic response, stable metabolic disease or progressive metabolic disease \[cmr, pmr, smd, or pmd\]) to eight weeks of scheduled weekly doses of cetuximab as assessed by fdg-pet/ct performed at baseline and then after therapy. * to correlate the overall tumor metabolic response (cmr, pmr, smd, or pmd) as assessed by fdg-pet/ct with the anatomic tumor response rate (complete response, partial response, stable disease or progressive disease \[cr, pr, sd, or pd\]) by recist criteria as assessed by ct and clinical examination performed after eight weeks of scheduled weekly doses of cetuximab. * to correlate the overall tumor metabolic response (cmr, pmr, smd, or pmd) as assessed by fdg-pet/ct and to correlate the overall anatomic tumor response (cr, pr, sd, or pd) by recist criteria as assessed by ct and clinical examination obtained at baseline and after eight weeks of treatment with weekly scheduled doses of cetuximab to ttp (time to progression) and os (overall survival) with cetuximab therapy. * to determine the overall best anatomic tumor response rate (cr, pr, sd, or pd) to cetuximab given until disease progression as assessed by recist criteria using ct and clinical examination. * to determine the overall disease control rate (cr, pr, and sd) by recist criteria as assessed by ct and clinical examination and to determine the ttp and the os with cetuximab therapy. * to assess the toxicity profile for standard of care cetuximab given to patients with metastatic squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck.

Eligibility criteria:
inclusion criteria: * histologically proven diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (scchn). * have either locally recurrent, unresectable, previously irradiated scchn or metastatic scchn, with at least one measurable tumor lesion (by ct scan) and at least one fdg avid (suv \>/= 3, \>/= 1.5 cm) tumor lesion (by pet/ct). * age greater than 18 yrs. * ecog performance status of 0-3 * signed irb approved informed consent. exclusion criteria: * clinical history of severe interstitial lung disease (not copd)-as defined by prior pulmonary function tests (pfts) with residual volume, total lung capacity, or corrected diffuse lung capacity for carbon monoxide (dlco) \<30% of predicted. for this study, screening pft's required only if clinically indicated. * prior therapy with an epidermal growth factor receptor (egfr)-specific monoclonal antibody (mab) for treatment of metastatic scchn. prior therapy with an egfr-specific mab as part of the definitive treatment of non-metastatic scchn is acceptable if this occurred more than three months previously. prior therapy with an egfr specific tki will not be an exclusion factor. * women of child bearing potential who are current pregnant or breast feeding. * prior severe (grade 4) infusion reaction to cetuximab. * a serious uncontrolled medical disorder that in the opinion of the investigator would impair the ability of the subject to receive protocol therapy. * chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or investigational agents given with the last 14 days. * uncontrolled diabetes mellitus. (subjects with a fasting blood glucose \> 200 at time of pet scanning may need to reschedule to another day after consulting with appropriate physicians.)

Keywords: squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck