Abstract
Twelve hypopharyngeal cancer patients with multiple positive nodes numbered 4 or more were treated with adjuvant chemotherapy. They had resectable tumors and received preoperative radiotherapy and surgery. The drug combination was CDDP/5FU or CDDP/PEP. 2-year survival rate was 58.3%. In contrast, 25 patients with positive nodes numbered 4 or more treated with radiotherapy and surgery had 25.0% 2- year survival rate. The differences are significant. It has been shown that the lymph node status is the most important prognostic factor in head and neck cancer. Number of positive nodes portend poor prognosis, and positive nodes number 4 or more are strongly correlated with poor prognosis and the rate of distant metastasis. In this retrospective study, we recognize that this design is imperfect. However, results of this study suggest that adjuvant chemotherapy may improve survival in patients with advanced head and neck cancer. And in the future, it must be investigated that which status of tumor should be treated with adjuvant chemotherapy.
