Hyperthermia combined with chemoradiotherapy for treatment of locally advanced head and neck cancer with bulky lymph node metastasis

Local control of metastatic neck nodes is important for treatment in patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer. However, managing inoperable bulky metastatic nodes with necrotic tissue is difficult using ordinary chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Since, hyperthermia (HT) offers complementary and synergistic effects with irradiation and anti-cancer agents, HT combined with CRT was used for treatment in 11 patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer displaying bulky metastatic neck nodes. The 11 cases included 8 cases with pathological Complete Response (CR), 2 with Partial Response (PR) and 1 with No Change (NC). The response rate was 90.9%. Overall survival rate (OS) at 1 and 2 years was 90.9% and 42.4%, respectively, and median survival time was 22.0 months. Local control rate (LCR) was 61.4% at both 1 and 2 years. These clinical results indicate the effectiveness of thermochemoradiotherapy in patients with head and neck cancer displaying bulky lymph node metastasis. (author)