Treatment of advanced head and neck tumors with PEV-B regimen: a pilot study

Thirty-seven patients with advanced head and neck tumors were treated with a polychemotherapy regimen (PEV-B: platinum 30 mg/m2 i.v., epirubicin 30 mg/m2 i.v., etoposide 75 mg/m2 i.v. on days 1 and 2 every 28 days, and bleomycin 15 mg i.m. weekly up to the total dose of 300 mg). All but 7 patients were pretreated with surgery and/or radiotherapy. Thirty-six patients were evaluable for response. Partial response (PR) was observed in 19 cases (53%), no change (NC) in 13 cases (36%) and progression (P) in 4 cases (11%). The median duration of PR was 5 months. The most frequent side-effects were leukopenia (78%), vomiting (57%) and alopecia (46%). The median duration of survival was 8 months for the responders and 5 months for the non-responders.