Conditions: Head and Neck Cancer Metastatic Squamous Neck Cancer With Occult Primary Squamous Cell Carcinoma Recurrent Metastatic Squamous Neck Cancer With Occult Primary Recurrent Salivary Gland Cancer Recurrent Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Hypopharynx Recurrent Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Larynx Recurrent Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Lip and Oral Cavity Recurrent Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Oropharynx Recurrent Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Paranasal Sinus and Nasal Cavity Recurrent Verrucous Carcinoma of the Larynx Recurrent Verrucous Carcinoma of the Oral Cavity Salivary Gland Squamous Cell Carcinoma Stage IV Salivary Gland Cancer Stage IV Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Hypopharynx Stage IV Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Larynx Stage IV Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Lip and Oral Cavity Stage IV Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Oropharynx Stage IV Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the Paranasal Sinus and Nasal Cavity Stage IV Verrucous Carcinoma of the Larynx Stage IV Verrucous Carcinoma of the Oral Cavity
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 44
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy, such as capecitabine, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Lapatinib ditosylate may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking some of the enzymes needed for cell growth. Giving capecitabine together with lapatinib ditosylate may kill more tumor cells.

PURPOSE: This phase II trial is studying how well giving capecitabine and lapatinib ditosylate together works in treating patients with squamous cell cancer of the head and neck.

Detailed description:
PRIMARY OBJECTIVE:

I. Overall survival (OS) will be the primary endpoint.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. Progression free survival (PFS). II. Time to disease progression and sites of progression. III. Response rate. IV. Toxicity of the combination in this population. V. Quality of life.

OUTLINE:

Patients receive oral lapatinib ditosylate once daily on days 1-21 and oral capecitabine twice daily on days 1-14. Courses repeat every 21 days in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed every 3 months for up to 5 years.

Arms:
arm 1: Patients receive oral lapatinib ditosylate once daily on days 1-21 and oral capecitabine twice daily on days 1-14.

Interventions: intervention 1: lapatinib ditosylate intervention 2: capecitabine
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Given orally intervention 2: Given orally

Protocol document: