toxicity of docetaxel platine 5fluorouracilbased induction chemotherapy for locally advanced head and neck cancer the importance of nutritional status purpose the objective of this study was to identify predictive factors of toxicity of docetaxel platin 5fluorouracil tpf induction chemotherapy for locally advanced head and neck cancerspatients and methods from july 2009 to march 2015 57 patients treated consecutively with tpf were included retrospectively there were 47 males 83 the median age was 56 years 4071 years thirtyeight patients 67 were treated for inoperable cancer highly symptomatic andor high tumor burden and 19 33 were treated for laryngeal preservation there were 47 stage iva 32 stage iii and 21 stage ivb at diagnosis there were 53 stable weight 28 grade 1 weight loss 17 grade 2 weight loss and 2 grade 3 weight lossresults fortyseven percent of patients were in partial response after tpf 28 in complete response 7 stable 2 progressing and 2 discordant response the possibility of oral feeding without a feeding tube was predictive of a better response p002 thirtynine percent of patients increased weight during tpf 35 were stable 18 in grade 1 weight loss 6 in grade 2 and 2 in grade 3 six of the patients 105 died during chemotherapy four from febrile neutropenia one from pneumopathy and one of unknown cause age 57years and older was associated with a higher risk of grade3 anemia and thrombocytopenia there was a higher risk of grade3 infection for weight loss at diagnosis p004 and feeding tube p005 there was a higher risk of grade3 neutropenia for weight loss during tpf p003conclusion induction chemotherapy by tpf has an strong antitumor efficacy 755 objective response but an important morbidity with 10 toxic deaths in our very symptomatic population with a very important tumor burden age and nutritional status are important factors to consider