2016 Volume 29 Issue 2 Pages 169-174
Hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas (HPSCCs) have one of the worst prognoses among malignancies of the head and neck. We applied weekly cisplatin (40 mg/m2) chemoradiotherapy (CRT) for patients with HPSCCs. Induction chemotherapy comprising docetaxel 75mg/m2 day1, cisplatin 75mg/m2 day1, and 5-FU 750mg/m2 day1-5 was used with the aim of preventing distant metastasis. We treated 40 patients with HPSCCs. Of these, 35 patients (87.5%) completed more than five cycles of a weekly cisplatin dose. Ten patients were treated by induction chemotherapy followed by weekly cisplatin CRT. Of these, 9 patients (90%) completed more than five cycles of a weekly cisplatin dose. The 5-year overall survival rate and larynx preserving survival rate in all 40 patients were 73.7% and 66%, respectively. In 10 patients treated with induction chemotherapy, each of the 3-year overall survival rate and the larynx preserving survival rate was 58.3%. It was considered that weekly cisplatin CRT with and without induction chemotherapy was very effective for patients with HPSCCs. It is possible that the weekly cisplatin CRT is suitable as the CRT regimen following induction chemotherapy.
