Abstract
The role of concurrent chemoradiotherapy in the management of hypopharyngeal cancer was discussed. In controlled clinical trials, CDDP-based concurrent chemoradiotherapy showed benefit in survival compared to radiation alone for the patients with inoperable hypopharyngeal cancers. At the same time, concurrent chemoradiotherapy demonstrated benefit in organ preservation compared to radiation followed by salvage surgery for patients with operable hypopharyngeal cancers. In the Japanese literature, the overall survival rate with concurrent chemoradiotherapy exceeds 50%. At our institution, CDDP and 5FU administered concurrently with radiation yielded local tumor disappearance in 55% of the resected specimens, thus suggesting the possibility of organ preservation. The 5-year disease-specific and overall survival rates were 56% and 51%, respectively.
