Clinical experience with high-dose cisplatin and radiation for treatment of epithelial malignancies

Over the past 5 years, 129 patients have been treated with a combination of high-dose cisplatin (CDDP) and radiation for locally advanced epithelial malignancies. The CDDP was administered at a dose of 100 mg/m2 by iv infusion over one-half hour, no more than 1 hour before irradiation, every 3 weeks during a full course of external beam irradiation. An attempt was made to take advantage of the interaction of high-dose CDDP and radiation. Tumor systems studied included head and neck, ovary, lung, cervix, and prostate. Median survival times are as follows: squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (trial 1), 36 months; ovarian carcinoma, 19; and squamous cell carcinoma of the lung, 14. Median survival has not yet been reached in trials of squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck (trial 2), cervical carcinoma, or adenocarcinoma of the prostate.