Results of chemotherapy in head and neck cancer patients with residual or recurrent tumors after initial treatment

: A study of S-1 chemotherapy treatment of patients with head and neck cancer was conducted in 26 patients with residual or recurrent tumors after the initial treatment, i. e., chemoradiotherapy, radiotherapy and operation. The treatment courses consisted of oral administration of S-1 at a dose of 80 to 120 mg/day depending on the body surface area, for 14 consecutive days followed by a 7-day rest period. The response rate in all patients was 34.6%(9/26). In patients with recurrent tumors, the response rate was 11.1% (1/9). Patients with residual tumors after the initial treatment had a response rate of 47.0% (8/17). The median survival time was 490 days. Moreover, we studied the maintenance of QOL (quality of life) in 15 cases whose deaths were caused by their tumors. The maintenance duration of QOL was 162 to 1,742 days (median 330 days). The mean QOL maintenance rate, i. e., the average period of extended life with stable disease compared to the period from the eternity time of S -1 treatment until patient death, was 81.1% (36.4-98.7%). S-1 is a safe anticancer drug with fewer side-effects than other chemotherapies. S-1 did not cause any serious adverse events in the patients enrolled in this study. Therefore, S-1 appears to be useful for the treatment of patients with head and neck cancer, and it is particularly useful for improving the QOL of patients.