Adjuvant chemotherapy in advanced head and neck cancer. An update

Two courses of triple-agent chemotherapy were given to 47 patients with advanced head and neck cancer. All but one patient with a nasopharyngeal carcinoma had resectable stage III and IV squamous cell carcinoma. Eighty-eight percent of the patients responded to the chemotherapy with a 50 percent or greater decrease in tumor size. Forty-three patients underwent surgical resection and 19 were histologically upgraded to stage II or better (T < 2 cm, N₀). None of these 19 patients have relapsed, with follow-up ranging from 12 to 42 months. In 12 of the 47 patients, recurrent tumor developed within the first 18 months of follow-up.