Long-term results of concurrent polychemotherapy and radiotherapy in patients with stomal recurrence after total laryngectomy.

From 1978 through 1985, eight patients with stomal recurrence after total laryngectomy were treated with a combination of a cytotoxic regimen (vincristin sulfate, bleomycin, and methotrexate [VBM]) and radiotherapy. The essential feature of this combination is the synchronous administration of pulses of VBM and fractionated doses of external radiotherapy in order to achieve potentiation of radiotherapy. On average, four to five pulses of VBM were given. Severe mucositis is the main problem during treatment. Two patients needed nasogastric tube feeding, and treatment was carried out as an inpatient procedure. Five patients are alive with complete local remission at 7 years, 3 years, 2 1/2 years, 14 months, and 8 months after treatment. These results appear to be spectacular, even though the number of patients is small. Of the three patients who died, only one had recurrent disease around the tracheostoma. The two other patients were free of disease in the neck when they died 6 and 16 months after treatment of, respectively, lung metastases and a second primary tumor in the lung. Patients with stomal recurrence after total laryngectomy are now routinely treated with synchronous VBM and radiotherapy.