Cancer of unknown primary origin medical therapy

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Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: ; Roukoz A. Karam, M.D.[2]

Overview

There is no treatment for cancer of unknown primary origin; the mainstay of therapy is supportive care.

Medical Therapy

Medical Therapy

• There is no treatment for cancer of unknown primary origin; the mainstay of therapy is supportive care.
• The treatment for cancer of unknown primary origin will depend on several factors, such as metastatic origin, biopsy findings, patients age, and performance status.
• Medical therapy for cancer of unknown primary origin should be adjusted on an individual basis and according to well-defined clinicopathologic subsets.
• The table below summarizes different types of medical therapy strategies for cancer of unknown primary origin.

Treatment for cancer of unknown primary origin Adapted from the European Society of Medical Oncology
Sub-type	Proposed treatment
Poorly differentiated carcinoma, predominately nodal disease	Platinum based combination chemotherapy
Peritoneal carcinomatosis in female	Platinum based chemotherapy
Isolated axillary nodal metastases in female	Identical to breast cancer with similar nodal involvement
Squamous carcinoma of cervical lymph nodes	Irradiation for N1-N2 disease. For higher stages induction chemotherapy with platinum-based combination is suggested
Liver, bone, or multiple-site metastases of adenocarcinoma	Low toxicity chemotherapy of palliative orientation or best supportive care are acceptable