[Treatment of head and neck cancer with twice-a-day fractionation]

Fifty patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer were treated with twice-a-day fractionation (1.0-1.5 Gy 2 times daily, 5 days per week). These patients consist of 12 cases of thyroid cancer, 23 of hypopharynx cancer, 7 of cancer of the oral cavity, 6 of oropharynx cancer and 2 of other sites. Total delivered dose was 21-73 Gy in 10-74 days. In respect of thyroid cancer, 2 cases of 3 with papillo-follicular carcinoma, 1 of 1 with small cell carcinoma and 3 of 8 with giant cell carcinoma were locally controlled. Patients of hypopharyngeal carcinoma treated with multifractionated radiotherapy combined with or without surgery revealed good prognosis (91% of T1 + T2, 100% of T3 + T4 at 2 years). Patients with cancer of the oral cavity or oropharynx, however, had poor prognosis.