[Results of several times daily treatment by cisdiamine-platinum and bleomycin. Therapeutical considerations (author's transl)].
Seventy two head and neck cancers have been treated with a combination of Cis-DDP (20 mg/m2/day) and bleomycin (6 mg/m2/day, 24 hours infusion) given for 5 days 3 courses every 3 weeks in preoperative cases and for 6 days (4 courses every 3 weeks) in non preoperative cases. Fifteen patients treated for local recurrence after irradiation experienced no significant response and their actual survival at 12 months is 22%. For the other patients the objective response rate was 78% with 10 complete responses and the projected survival at 12 months varies from 62% to 92% according to the subsequent treatment (irradiation or surgery followed by irradiation). These results are in agreement with a few reports using similar combinations; but it needs to answer new questions about possibility of surgical strategy variations in the cases of good or complete responses with such a chemotherapy.