Concurrent Intra-arterial Chemotherapy and Radiotherapy for Advanced Laryngeal Cancer

Objectives: An intra-arterial chemoradiotherapy regimen (RADPLAT) provides remarkable local control for head and neck cancer. This study evaluates the efficacy of a reduced RADPLAT protocol in patients who are candidates for total laryngectomy. Methods: Forty-three patients with advanced laryngeal cancer were treated with 2 courses of intra-arterial cisplatin infusion (100 mg per body) during 40-Gy irradiation. The patients who showed a greatly diminished tumor received sequenc, tial irradiation. The patients with obvious residual disease received chemotherapy during the sequential irradiation. Poor responders, with less than 50% turnor reduction, underwent total laryngectomy. Results: Forty-two patients completed the protocol. All surviving patients were followed for at least 3 years. Thirty-four patients were alive (80% of the supraglottic cases and 87.5% of the glottic cases). Local control was achieved in 27 patients (67.5% of the I I glottic cases and 64.0% of the supraglottic cases). The glottic cohort showed better progression-free survival rates than did the supraglottic cohort (68.8% and 45.0%, respectively; p = 0.019). There were 2 cases of grade 3 neutropenia and 3 cases of grade 3 mucositis. No patients required tube feeding. One patient required tracheostomy 3 months after the completion of the treatment protocol. Conclusions: Concurrent chemoradiotherapy with I reduced dose of intra-arterial cisplatin is feasible for patients with advanced glottic cancer.