[A combined therapy for maxillary cancer]

Forty-three patients with cancer of the maxillary sinus were treated by surgery combined with radiation and regional chemotherapy as a series of treatment in 1978-1989. The combined therapy consisted of the followings: 1) Operation to reduce tumor-mass. 2) Irradiation of total dose of 16 Gy, that is, 8 Gy preoperatively and 8 Gy postoperatively. 3) Chemotherapy with arterial infusion of 1,000 mg fluorouracil (5-FU) and 2,000 mg broxuridine (BUdR) for 4 days after operation. Of the 16 patients with neck metastasis, 14 accepted extirpation of the metastatic cervical lymph nodes and upper neck dissection was performed in other 2 cases. Five-year survival was 87% in the 32 patients of stage II and III but 41% in the 11 of stage IV. The combined therapy for patients of stage II and III disease is recommended because of the satisfactory results. However, a further study is required in our therapeutic schema for the case of stage IV since the prognosis was poor.