CARBOPLATIN PLUS FTORAFUR AS A PALLIATIVE TREATMENT IN LOCALLY ADVANCED CANCER OF THE ORAL CAVITY AND LIP

Forty consecutive patients with local advanced cancer of the oral cavi ty and lip, heavily pretreated, were palliated with two courses of car boplatin, 400 mg/m2 intravenously once a month plus ftorafur, 500 mg/m 2 daily per os for 30 days. Previous treatment consisted of surgery (1 7 patients), radiation therapy (23 patients), and chemotherapy with ci splatin plus bleomycin (15 patients). The main sites of primary tumor were the tongue (12 patients), hard palate (6 patients), retromolar ar ea (6 patients), tonsils (6 patients), perioral skin and lip (5 patien ts), and floor of the mouth (5 patients). Complete response was observ ed in 3 patients, and partial response in 7. Symptomatic improvement w as observed in 56% of the cases. Median duration of response was 9 mon ths. Median survival was 7 months. The main toxic effects were nausea (39 cases), vomiting (35 cases), and thrombocytopenia (4 cases). We co nclude that carboplatin plus ftorafur has a role as palliative chemoth erapy in cancer of the oral cavity and lip in heavily pretreated patie nts when local therapies are not suitable.