[Long-term prognosis of oral squamous cell carcinoma histologically judged to have been eliminated by the treatment with bleomycin alone].

This study was intended to reveal the long-term prognosis in 21 patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma evaluated histologically as having disappeared by bleomycin treatment. Of 16 cases treated with bleomycin alone, recurrence was observed in 4, and cervical metastases in 2, with survival achieved for 5 years or more in 7 (more than 10 years in 3). No recurrence was observed in 5 patients in whom surgery was additionally performed after the bleomycin treatment, but cervical metastasis was found in one of them. In the cases with epithelial dysplasia after bleomycin therapy, recurrence and metastasis were frequent compared to those with normal epithelium, and this discrepancy was of statistical significance. It has been proved that there are long-term survivors among patients with oral carcinoma treated with bleomycin alone.