The treatment of locally advanced head and neck cancer with misonidazole, hyperbaric oxygen and irradiation: an interim report.

Thirty-one patients with advanced inoperable squamous carcinoma of the mouth were treated in a pilot study with misonidazole (2.0 gm/m2) with each of six fractions of 6.0 Gy in hyperbaric oxygen at 3 ATA. The one and two year disease free survival was 48 and 26%, respectively. A prospective randomized trial is now being conducted comparing this regimen with 63.0 Gy in 30 fractions in 38 days in air. One hundred-fourteen patients have been entered; 91 are available for analysis at six months or more. The preliminary results at 6 and 12 months favor the combination of sensitizers. There is no added toxicity.