The role of chemotherapy in untreated squamous-cell carcinoma of the head and neck

Surgical correction of trismus in a child with Hecht syndrome

Hecht syndrome is a rare condition that is also known as trismus pseudocamptodactyly syndrome. Short muscle and tendon units limiting the range of motion of upper and lower extremities and mouth characterize this disorder of muscle development. There is no consensus on the optimal treatment of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) ankylosis in this patient population. Endoscopic release in one patient resulted in early postoperative recurrence. The authors present a 28-month old boy who had a limited mouth opening of 6 mm. CT scan showed no bony ankylosis. The range of mouth opening did not to improve with physical therapy. The patient underwent extensive subperiosteal dissection of the mandible, bilateral coronoidectomy, and TMJ exploration. An intraoperative opening of 18 mm was achieved. The patient remained intubated until postoperative swelling resolved. He was extubated in the operating room 6 days later. The patient continued to improve with physical therapy. He had a 25-mm mouth opening at 12 months of follow-up.

Induction VBM plus radiotherapy, versus radiotherapy alone for advanced head and neck cancer: long-term results

Between 1978 and 1981, 85 patients with advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck were randomized to receive induction VBM followed by radiotherapy, or radiotherapy alone. The shortest follow-up is thus 6 years. The median survival of patients receiving induction chemotherapy was 46 weeks, that of the radiotherapy group alone was 75 weeks. As the two groups were not balanced despite randomization, multivariate methods (GLIM) were used to identify significant prognostic factors. These were: response to radiotherapy (P less than 0.001), nodal status (P less than 0.001), age (P less than 0.01), and histological grade (P less than 0.01). Neither treatment with, nor response to, chemotherapy had a significant effect on survival.

Factors predicting response of end stage squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck to cisplatinum

Cisplatinum significantly prolongs survival in end stage head and neck cancer but only 30-40% of patients respond. Many receive chemotherapy with little or no benefit and it would obviously be advantageous to determine in advance those patients likely to benefit. In 2 phase III trials of chemotherapy in end stage disease, 129 patients have been treated with cisplatinum, either alone or in 2-drug combination with bleomycin, methotrexate or 5-fluorouracil. Factors analysed in the entire group were age, sex, site, previous treatment, performance status and the use of cisplatinum in combination. A high albumen and oro- or nasopharyngeal site were significantly favourable, while a hypopharyngeal, middle ear, skin or paranasal site were all significantly unfavourable. In the separate analysis of the subgroup with recurrent disease, site of recurrence and time to recurrence were analysed in addition to the factors named above. Although similar trends to those in the entire group were observed none reached significant levels. In the subgroup with advanced previously untreated disease, histological grade was analysed in addition to the above factors. Good performance status emerged as significantly favourable. The emerging trends provide some insight regarding outcome but are not sufficiently clearcut to allow a decision to be made on who should and who should not be treated.