Bleomycin, Methotrexate and Vincristine Before Irradiation of Stage III and IV Laryngeal and Pharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Study Initiated by the Danish Society of Head and Neck Cancer Dahanca I

Primary treatment with bleomycin, methotrexate and vincristine for two weeks followed by curatively intended 60Co irradiation was administered to 153 patients consecutively referred to the three main treatment centres in Denmark over more than a two-year period. Seventy-one laryngeal and 82 pharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas were evaluated. According to the TNM classification (UICC) 76 patients had stage III and 77 patients stage IV disease. The immediate response (complete + partial) to chemotherapy was 20 per cent. Judging from frequency of local recurrence, metastases as well as survival the treatment results were not obviously improved. A high frequency of complications was observed after this combination of chemotherapy and irradiation, and it was often impossible to fulfil the irradiation to the planned dose in appropriate time.