I asked my husband's medical oncologist and his radiation oncologist the same question. My husband only got carboplatin as it is much less toxic than cisplatin, with fewer side effects and per the two oncologists, is proving just as effective. The MO also said there was no strong evidence that adding Taxol to chemoradiation resulted in a significant improvement in local control, much less survival, but that it appeared to improve response if used with surgery (without any radiation). Our MO added that for chemoradiation, it is the radiation that is the "work-horse" in the treatment -- the chemo adds about 10-15% to effectiveness, it is primarily a radiosensitizer to make the cancer cells more vulnerable to the radiation.
My husband has 7x low doses of carboplatin and 33x radiation (tomo-IMRT) for a stage IV tonsil, base-of-tongue and two nodes SCC -- 8 months' out and two PET/CT scans have shown no cancer though of course he will have to continue to be monitored for considerable time. However his immediate reponse to treatment was "as good as it ever gets" per the RO, so the carbo-only chemo worked fine.
By the way, the MO said that if he were to be starting treatment now rather than last August, they would probably give him
Erbitux as well as the platinoid.
Gail
