Active clinical trials for "Head and Neck Neoplasms"

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. Combining radiation therapy with chemotherapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of cisplatin and radiation therapy in treating patients with stage IV cancer of the head and neck.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells. It is not yet known whether cisplatin plus fluorouracil are more effective than paclitaxel plus cisplatin in treating patients with advanced head and neck cancer. PURPOSE: Randomized phase III trial to compare the effectiveness of two combination chemotherapy regimens in treating patients with advanced head and neck cancer.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x-rays to damage tumor cells. Combining more than one chemotherapy drug with radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of combination chemotherapy and radiation therapy in treating patients with stage III or stage IV head and neck cancer.

RATIONALE: Radiation therapy that delivers a high dose of radiation directly to the tumor may kill more tumor cells and cause less damage to normal tissue. Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining high-dose radiation with chemotherapy may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase I/II trial to study the effectiveness of combining high-dose radiation therapy with chemotherapy in treating patients who have newly diagnosed stage II, stage III, or stage IV nasopharyngeal cancer.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. PURPOSE: This phase I trial is studying the side effects and best dose of 17-N-allylamino-17-demethoxygeldanamycin in treating patients with refractory advanced solid tumors or hematologic cancers.

Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of thalidomide in treating patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck cancer. Thalidomide may stop the growth of head and neck cancer by stopping blood flow to the tumor.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. Combining more than one drug may kill more tumor cells. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to study the effectiveness of cisplatin plus gemcitabine in treating patients with advanced squamous cell head and neck cancer that cannot be treated by surgery or radiation therapy.

RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy use different ways to stop tumor cells from dividing so they stop growing or die. PURPOSE: Phase II trial to compare the effectiveness of docetaxel in treating Caucasian and African American patients who have solid tumors.

This research study is studying a drug called Amifostine as a treatment for squamous cell carcinoma in the head and/or neck area.

Sorafenib may stop the growth of tumor cells by blocking the enzymes necessary for their growth. It may also stop the growth of tumor cells by stopping blood flow to the tumor. This phase II trial is studying how well sorafenib works in treating patients with recurrent or metastatic head and neck cance