[Preoperative chemotherapy with TS-1 and low dose cisplatin for oral squamous cell carcinoma patients--a preliminary...

We investigated the histological response and toxicities of combination chemotherapy with TS-1 and low-dose CDDP, and evaluated the usefulness of this regimen as a preoperative chemotherapy. Fourteen patients were enrolled in this study (two men and 12 women, with a mean age of 54.5 years). Patients were administered TS-1 80 mg/m2/day (days 1-14) and CDDP 5 mg/m2/day (days 1-5, 8-12) and followed by radical surgery or biopsy within 2 weeks. Ten patients completed 1 cycle of chemotherapy, two received 0.5 cycle and two others 1.5 cycle. The histological antitumor effects were evaluated with Ohboshi & Shimosato's classification using surgical or biopsy specimens of primary tumors. The response rate was 64.3% in clinical evaluation and 50.0% in histological evaluation. The number of patients who showed CR were 7/14 (50.0%) and 5/14 (35.7%) by histological and clinical evaluation, respectively. Two patients showed grade 3 neutropenia. Almost all patients revealed no or mild toxicities. TS-1 with low-dose CDDP represents a highly effective antitumor activity and mild toxicities. Especially, the CR rate was very high. These data suggested that this regimen was useful to avoid surgery or to realize minimal surgery for oral squamous cell carcinoma patients.