Pre- and postoperative irradiation in advanced oral carcinoma

The combination of radiotherapy and surgery in the treatment of advanced oral carcinoma (T3 and T4 lesions) yields good possibilities of recovery; whether radiotherapy should be given before or after surgery is still debated. Fifty patients with advanced oral carcinomas were analyzed: 24 of them were irradiated before and 26 after surgery; doses ranged from 40 to 56 Gy for the first group of patients, and from 50 to 68 Gy for the second one. The disease-free survival 48 months after the diagnosis was 36% in patients who received preoperative irradiation, and 53.6% in patients who received postoperative radiotherapy. the latter allowed local control of the disease to be significantly improved (χ23.99, 0.01<p<0.05). The quality of survival was worse in the group receiving preoperative irradiation, because of radiation-induced surgical complications, which were especially observed in patients with diffuse disease. The findings suggest that postoperative radiotherapy may be advisable if the tumor is resectable, since tolerance and local control rate were acceptable. On the contrary, nearly inoperable masses and massive neck diseases often require preoperative irradiation