No abstract

Treatment results of irradiation as a single treatment for advanced stage IV unresectable head and neck cancer remains uniformly poor and apparently has not changed with the most recent improvements in oncological care. Despite several negative results of randomized studies, neoadjuvant or concomitant chemotherapy and radiotherapy seems to improve the number of complete responses and also the duration of disease-free survival. The present study was designed to determine the feasibility, potential risks and benefits of the two methods of combined treatment and radiotherapy alone on the management of advanced unresectable squamous cell carcinoma of the upper respiratory and digestive system. From 1983 to 1986, 90 patients entered the trial. Thirty patients were randomized to each study group: radiotherapy alone (70 Gy); neoadjuvant chemotherapy (vinblastine, mitomycin, cisplatin, and bleomycin) and radiotherapy; concomitant chemotherapy (cisplatin and bleomycin) and radiotherapy. An increased frequency of complete responses (33%) was seen in patients treated with the two different combinations of chemotherapy and irradiation compared to irradiation alone (10%). However, toxicity was more common in patients treated with the two modalities of combined treatment and there were no differences in overall survival rates (P = 0.706).

No abstract

Ten previously untreated patients with stages I and II Hodgkin's disease were treated with MOPP chemotherapy alone. Eight of nine evaluable patients went into complete remission (CR). Six remained in CR on the average 82.7 months after induction. Two patients relapsed early and died more than 5 years after entering the study. The patient in whom CR was not achieved died as well. The estimated 10-year survival rate is 51%. This experience adds to the very small number of reports that have appeared describing the results of treatment of patients with early stage Hodgkin's disease with MOPP alone.