TUESDAY, Oct. 18 (HealthDay News) -- A new combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy may offer a much greater chance of survival for head and neck cancer patients who develop a second tumor or whose disease recurs in an area that's already been treated with radiation, says a study by Canadian and American researchers.

Few treatment options currently exist for these patients, according to background information from the study.

This study included 99 patients who received split-course hyperfractionated radiation therapy twice a day for five days every two weeks for four cycles. The patients also received chemotherapy with cisplatin (daily every two weeks for four cycles) and paclitaxel (daily every two weeks for four cycles).

The median follow-up for surviving patients was 23.6 months and the median survival was 12.1 months. The median survival for patients treated with the current standard of chemotherapy alone is six to eight months, and one-year survival rates are typically less than 35 percent, the researchers said.

Fifty percent of the patients in this study survived for at least a year while 26 percent survived two years.

The findings were presented Monday at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology annual meeting, in Denver.

"The side effects from this experimental regimen were significant, but these patients were among those with the most serious cancers," Dr. Eric Horwitz, study co-principal investigator and clinical director in the radiation oncology department at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, said in a prepared statement.

Eight of the patients in this study suffered fatal side effects (grade 5 toxicities) from the combined treatment, and 34 percent of the patients had grade 4 acute and late toxicities. Leukopenia, anemia and diarrhea were among the other acute side effects experienced by patients, the researchers said.

More information

The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about head and neck cancer.