MRI in Finding Hypoxia in Patients Undergoing Chemo and Radiation for Head and Neck Cancer

OBJECTIVES:

- Determine the undertaken oxygen sensitive MRI for the detection of hypoxia in patients
with Stage III-IV head and neck cancer.

- Correlate MRI parameters with histology, gene expression, and plasma osteopontin.

- Correlate tumor hypoxia measurements with patient prognosis and treatment response.

OUTLINE:

- Pre-therapy MRI: Patients undergo blood oxygen level dependant (BOLD) contrast MRI on
room air breathing over 2 minutes and with oxygen gas over 15 minutes. Patients also
undergo MR-spectroscopy over 15 minutes to measure choline and lactate markers, and
dynamic contrast MRI with gadolinium contrast over 8 minutes.

- Chemoradiotherapy: Patients receive platinum based chemotherapy every two weeks.
Patients also undergo radiation therapy for 6 weeks.

- Post-radiation MRI: Patients undergo MRI as before chemoradiotherapy. Blood and tumor
samples are collected at baseline for biomarker analysis associated with tumor
progression or response.

After completion of study, patients are followed every 3 months for up to 1 year.

DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS:

- Histologically confirmed squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck

- Stage III or IV disease

- Measurable disease

- Scheduled to undergo standard treatment including radiation therapy and chemotherapy

- Participation on study # 092004-010 for tissue procurement

PATIENT CHARACTERISTICS:

- ECOG performance status 0-2

- Serum creatinine ≤ 1.5 OR creatinine clearance ≥ 40

- Body mass index ≤ 34 Kg/m^2

- Not claustrophobic

- No other contraindications to MRI (i.e., implanted pacemaker device)

- Not pregnant or nursing

- Negative pregnancy test

- No allergy to gadolinium

PRIOR CONCURRENT THERAPY:

- See Disease Characteristics