Charm notes:

"As far as I can tell, Erbitux is fine when given in conjunction with platinum based chemo (cisplatin, carboplatin) or others chemotherapies. "

Actually, the early results of RTOG 0522 (Cetuximab added to Cisplatin) have not yet shown an increased survival benefit. However, it's too soon to tell if the HPV+ participants have a real benefit - less of a risk of recurrence (especially for never smokers) and increased time to recurrence.

One of my doctor buddies, a pediatric oncologist, told me that it is important to remember, that adding drugs to a protocal may show increased benefit, but sometimes it just adds toxicity.

Another important point, when looking at these study results, it to verify whether they are actually statistically significant or not, or simply results presented as interesting and worthy of further study, particularly in single-institution retrospective studies, or phase one or two studies with small numbers of people. These studies will often include a statement such as 'although this result was not powered to reach statistical significance...'. This means the invesigator can see a trend, but if their sample is skewed (due to small numbers or test design)their result are not representative of the population as a whole.

I don't expect this is making anyone feel any better about anything, but it points out that you have to have confidence in your team (who had darn well better have a decent grounding in reviewing clinical trial results) and to seek a second and even a third opinion if there is any question in your mind about the treatment protocol.