Efficacy of superselective intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy with concomitant radiotherapy for advanced hypopharyngeal carcinoma

Abstract

Patients with advanced hypopharyngeal carcinoma still have a poor outcome in spite of radical surgery with chemoradiotherapy. We started superselective intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy with concomitant radiotherapy (IA chemoradiation) for advanced hypopharyngeal carcinoma in 2003. The complete response (CR) rate for local and neck lesions was 94.1% and 60%, respectively. After neck dissection the total CR rate was 82.4%. There was no significant difference in survival rates between groups with IA chemoradiation (n=22) and with surgery with preoperative chemoradiotherapy (n=57). However, Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the cause-specific survival rate in N3 patients and larynx preservation rate was significantly higher in patients treated with IA chemoradiation than in those with surgery with preoperative chemoradiotherapy (p<0.05 and p<0.001). Subjective symptoms are not so severe in patients without the disease after IA chemoradiation. IA chemoradiation is effective for patients with advanced hypopharyngeal carcinoma to maintain quality of life such as voice and swallowing.