Results of Combination Therapy for Carcinoma of the Mesopharynx

Abstract

The results of planned combination therapy in 31 cases of stage II-IV mesopharyngeal cancer in the past 15 years were reviewed. The combination therapy consisted of intravenous chemotherapy using 5-fluorouracil (250mg×18), Linac Xray irradiation (2Gy×30) followed by sufficiently extensive resection and primary reconstruction. The 5 year survival rate (Kaplan -Meiner method) in stage II (N=2) was 100%, stage III (N=16) was 82% and stage IV (N=13) was 12%. The overall 5 year survival rate was 53%. Local recurrence was observed in only one case. The most frequent cause of treatment failure was distant metastasis, seen in 67% of those who died within 5 years. To improve the results of therapy in stage IV, furthur combination of chemotherapy consisting chiefly of CDDP and immunotherapy is assumed necessary.