[Two cases of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in which S-1 administration resulted in long-term sustained QOL]

Palliative treatments are applied for older adult cases that are not indicated for either surgery or potential chemotherapy, as well as in cases with unresectable primary lesions, distant metastases, and serious complications among head and neck cancer cases. There is no established treatment for such cases, and therefore treatment has to be selected on a case-by-case basis. Two cases showing sustained QOL after long administration of S-1 are presented in this paper. The first is an 84-year-old male patient with cancer of the hypopharynx (T3N2aM1, stage IVc). The second is a 70- year-old male patient who had recurrent cancer of the larynx (T1N0M0, stage I) after primary treatment. However, we were unable to perform surgery due to possible complications of severe emphysema. Regulating the dosage and intervals of S-1 enabled the patients in both cases to survive with cancer as outpatients for 2 years and 2 months after the initial visit (1 year and 10 months from the start of the administration of S-1) in the former case and 3 years from the initial visit (2 years and 1 month from the start of the administration of S-1) in the latter case.