Superselective intra-arterial chemotherapy and superselective intra-arterial chemotherapy with concomitant radiation therapy for squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue

Twenty-eight patients with tongue squamous cell carcinoma were treated with superselective intra-arterial chemotherapy with docetaxel (DOC), cisplatin (CDDP), and fluorouracil (5-FU). Twenty-seven patients obtained complete response (CR) histologically. The response rate was 100% and CR rate was 96.4%. The one patient who did not attain CR was a patient who had already received radiation therapy and surgery. By the median follow-up period of 1,815 days (range was 382-3,383 days), the survival rate was 85.8% and the organ preservation rate was 82.5%. These data suggest that the primary tumors can be controlled by superselective intra-arterial chemotherapy alone for T2 and T3 which is close to T2 and superselective intra-arterial chemotherapy with concomitant radiation therapy for most of T3 and T4a cases. For cervical lymph node metastasis, it may be dependent on the neck dissection. This therapy is believed to be useful as a treatment for the purpose of 'organ preservation · non-surgical treatment'. (author)