al-Sarraf M
Department of Medicine, Harper-Grace Hospitals, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan.
Invest New Drugs. 1989 Apr;7(1):71-81. doi: 10.1007/BF00178193.
While it is estimated to be one of the most prevalent cancers in the world, cancer of the head and neck is an uncommon malignant tumor in the United States and accounts for only 5% of all malignancies. Head and neck cancer is a term that encompasses heterogeneous groups of patients. The most common histologic type is the squamous cell carcinoma. Cancer of the oral cavity is the most common site among the head and neck tumors. The majority of patients (70-80%) present with locally advanced (Stage III and IV) cancer. The standard treatments of surgery and/or radiotherapy have a high cure rate for patients with early disease (Stages I or II), but not for patients with locally advanced tumors. Local recurrence and persistent disease occur in more than 60% of patients present with advanced cancer, and approximately 10%-20% of all patients develop distant metastases. Chemotherapy is usually used for palliation in patients with recurrent and metastatic head and neck cancer at which time these patients have failed the definitive therapy of surgery and/or radiotherapy and the chances for salvage is almost nil. With the identification of more active cytotoxic agent(s) and combinations, chemotherapy is being investigated as part of multi-modality treatment in patients with previously untreated and locally advanced head and neck cancer.
虽然头颈部癌据估计是世界上最常见的癌症之一，但在美国却是一种罕见的恶性肿瘤，仅占所有恶性肿瘤的5%。头颈部癌是一个涵盖不同患者群体的术语。最常见的组织学类型是鳞状细胞癌。口腔癌是头颈部肿瘤中最常见的部位。大多数患者（70%-80%）表现为局部晚期（III期和IV期）癌症。手术和/或放疗的标准治疗方法对早期疾病（I期或II期）患者有较高的治愈率，但对局部晚期肿瘤患者则不然。超过60%的晚期癌症患者会出现局部复发和持续性疾病，所有患者中约10%-20%会发生远处转移。化疗通常用于复发和转移性头颈部癌患者的姑息治疗，此时这些患者已无法接受手术和/或放疗的确定性治疗，挽救的机会几乎为零。随着更有效的细胞毒性药物和联合方案的发现，化疗正作为多模式治疗的一部分，在先前未经治疗的局部晚期头颈部癌患者中进行研究。
