[Recent progress in the treatment of oral and pharyngeal cancer]

Today, in the treatment of oral cancer, combined resection and reconstructive surgery has shown marked progress. Especially, the surgical procedures of bone graft after mandibulectomy have been seen widespread application. In the treatment of nasopharyngeal cancer, adjuvant chemotherapy after therapeutic dose of irradiation indicates a better survival rate than radiation alone, and in advanced nasopharyngeal cancer, a wide resection is effective for cure. In the surgical treatment of hypopharyngeal cancer, by the immediate reconstruction of pharynx with jejunum, patients can eat orally in a short time. The most important problem in the treatment of head and neck cancer is development of effective chemotherapy against distant metastases.