Chemo-reirradiation in persistent/recurrent head and neck cancers.

Background: This retrospective study was carried out to evaluate the feasibility and safety of chemo-reirradiation as a salvage treatment in patients with persistent/recurrent head and neck cancers.

Methods: From 1991 to 1999, records of 131 patients with head and neck carcinoma who had loco-regional persistent/recurrent disease following curative therapy were analyzed. Of these, 33 patients had received chemo-reirradiation.

Medulloblastomas: clinical profile, treatment techniques and outcome - an institutional experience.

The present series reports an audit on the patterns of presentation, radiation treatment techniques, failure pattern and outcome in the 36 patients treated at a single institution. Patients were accrued between October 1991 and September 1999. They underwent total or subtotal resection along with craniospinal irradiation.

Loco-regional failures in head and neck cancer: can they be effectively salvaged by nonsurgical therapeutic modalities?

Background: This retrospective study was carried out to ascertain the extent of efficacy of nonsurgical salvage modalities, mainly chemotherapy (CT) alone or chemoradiotherapy (CTRT), for loco-regional failures in head and neck cancer (HNC).

Methods: Between 1991 and 1999, 131 patients with HNC, mostly stages III and IV, who had loco-regional residual ( n = 78) or recurrent lesions ( n = 53) following curative therapy with either radiotherapy (RT), neoadjuvant CT (NACT) followed by RT, or concurrent CTRT were included in this analysis. Of these, 84 patients (residual, 58; recurrent, 26), did not receive any form of salvage therapy, while 47 had either CT alone ( n = 22) or CTRT ( n = 25).