In our department, 109 patients with advanced or recurrent head and neck cancer received palliative chemotherapy for the purpose of prolonging life and improving quality of life throughout the past 11 years. Single or combind agents used include peplomycin (PEP), cisplatin (CDDP), UFT, bleomycin (BLM)+mitomycin C (MMC), vincristine (VCR)+methotrexate (MTX)+BLM, VCR+MTX+BLM+MMC, CDDP+PEP, VCR+MTX+PEP, adriamycin (ADR)+CDDP+PEP, etc. The five-year survival rate was 3.3% (3/92) in this series. Two patients have survived for more than 7 and 8 years without recurrence following chemotherapy. We also evaluated the quality of life of all patients receiving chemotherapy. An improvement of quality of life was observed in 39 of them. The lives of thirty patients, whose performance status improved after chemotherapy, were prolonged and they enjoyed their home lives while receiving treatment at the outpatient level. Eight out of 39 cases, which resulted in prologed life and improvement of quality of life were presented. The use of chemotherapy at the outpatient level will be increasingly important in the future.
