EXTERNAL-BEAM RADIATION-THERAPY FOR SQUAMOUS-CELL CARCINOMA OF THE SOFT PALATE

Purpose: External beam radiation therapy for carcinoma of the soft pal ate aims to achieve loco-regional control with normal speech, nasal fu nction, swallowing mechanism, and minimal side effects such as nasal s peech and regurgitation of food into the nasopharynx. In this report w e present our results of radiotherapy in the treatment of 24 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the soft palate. Methods and Materials : A total of 24 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the soft pala te were treated at the Veterans Administration Medical Center Minneapo lis, MN, between February 1977 and May 1992. Of the 24 patients 2 had T1, 19 T2, 1 T3, and 2 had T4 lesions. Nineteen patients did not have clinical nodal disease, stage (NO), 1 had N1, 2 N2, and 2 N3 disease ( Table 1). All the patients were treated by 4 MeV linear accelerator. A 1.75 Gy median dose was administered per fraction to a total of 70 Gy median dose. Bilateral opposed compensated shrinking fields technique was used. Results: The 3-year disease free survival rate after extern al beam radiation therapy was 100% (1 out of 1), 64.7% (11 out of 17), 100% (1 out of 1), and 0%, for patients with T1, T2, T3, and T4 disea se, respectively. Salvage surgery for recurrent disease was successful in 57.1% (4 out of 7 patients) (Table 2). The ultimate 3-year disease free survival rate for the entire group, including surgical salvage, was 81% (17 out of 21) (Fig 1). Conclusion: Radiation therapy alone in our institution resulted in tumor control and survival rates compare favorably to previously published reports in the litrature. Surgery ca n be reserved as salvage procedure. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Inc.