Combined therapy of oral cancer bleomycin and radiation: a clinical trial.

A concurrent randomised controlled clinical trial to evaluate a combination of Bleomycin and radiation as against radiation only in the treatment of advanced oral cancer has been conducted at the Cancer Institute, Madras, since 1971. All T3 and T4 previously untreated oral squamous cell carcinomas with N0, N1 and N2 regional nodes, or N3 nodes confined to the submandibular region, without systemic metastases or gross infiltration of the temporal and infratemporal fossa producing total trismus, and in decent general health were eligible for the trial. Patients with gross active pulmonary tuberculosis were excluded, as were recurrent carcinomas. Age, external fungation of growth or radiological bone invasion were no bar. Randomisation was done by the sealed envelope technique. The study group received concurrent fractionated cobalt 60 teletherapy using two opposing fields and 10-15 mg of Intra-arterial or Intravenous Bleomycin. The controls received fractionated cobalt teletherapy and i.v. or i.m. distilled water on the same protocol as the Bleomycin cases. All cases were evaluated double blind 8 weeks after the end of radiation therapy, and were classified as 'favourable response' or 'failure'. The criterion of 'favourable response' was 'total clinical healing of the tumour within the volume of irradiation with no subsequent recurrence within that volume, whatever the length of follow up'. Anything else was reported as a failure. A long term follow up of 3 years is also available. 136 cases have completed the trial. The favourable response in the study group was 77% as against 20.9% in the control group. The differential response is statistically significant. The present study is the fourth in the series of combined therapeutic trials conducted in advanced oral squamous cell carcinoma since 1958. (Krishnamurthi and Shanta, 1963, 1965, 1967 and 1971). A concurrent randomised controlled clinical trial to evaluate the combination of Bleomycin and radiation as against radiation only in treatment of advanced oral cancer has been conducted at the Cancer Institute, Madras since 1971.