Chemotherapy in Head and Neck Cancer

Abstract

SQUAMOUS-CELL carcinoma of the head and neck accounts for five per cent of the cases of cancer in the United States. Only one third of patients with this neoplasm present with localized disease easily curable by surgery and radiation. These treatment methods, however, have not provided adequate tumor control in the majority of patients who present with advanced local and regional disease. Local recurrences occur in up to 60 per cent of these patients, and distant metastases develop in 20 to 30 per cent; survival remains poor (0 to 40 per cent).^{1 , 2} Until recently, chemotherapy has been reserved only for . . .