Chemotherapy: Is it Warranted in Curable Head and Neck Cancer?

Abstract

Since the last century, many physicians have been trying to utilize chemotherapy to replace conventional surgical treatment for cases of cancer of the oropharynx, larynx, and hypopharynx, which would otherwise be candidates for total laryngectomy. Some authors claim that the preservation rate of the larynx increases after treatment by chemotherapy, which even may take the place of routine surgical methods. However, when calculated in a more rigorous way following accepted statistical methods, what they claim is questionable. As a result, the routine application of chemotherapy In its present form is not advisable for curable squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck region. Further research is required to justify its benefit.