[Current status of chemotherapy of tumors of the head and neck].

The literature regarding chemotherapy of cervico-facial tumours is reviewed. Owing to its modest, short-lived results intra-arterial treatment has been largely abandoned even in the case of serious complications. It is only used in selected cases as a preparation for subsequent surgical and/or radiation therapy. General, one-drug cytostatic therapy has been given fair results with objective remissions varying from 7.5 to 58%. In recent years polychemotherapy has proved more effective with remissions of from 30 to 80%. There are too few data on the polychemotherapy-immunotherapy association to draw valid conclusions.