Preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy for advanced head and neck cancer: a surgical evaluation

This presentation consists of two parts: 1) a brief account of the results of treating 94 patients with stage III (n = 24) and stage IV (n = 70) advanced head and neck cancer, primarily with two courses of preoperative adjuvant chemotherapy; and 2) an evaluation of 42 of the 94 patients consecutively treated by surgery by the senior author. It is our conclusion that preoperative chemotherapy using cisplatin, vincristine, and bleomycin can improve the compromised airway and deglutition without producing deleterious effects relative to surgical complications. Moreover, overall survival is promising and justifies continued study using organized protocols.