Preoperative chemotherapy with S-1 and low-dose cisplatin for oral squamous cell carcinoma

We investigated preoperative chemotherapy with S-1 and low-dose cisplatin for the untreated stage II-IV oral squamous cell carcinoma patients. The chemotherapy consisted of S-1 80 mg/m2/day (day 1-14) and CDDP 5 mg/m2/day (day 1-5 and day 8-12) intravenous drip (less than 1 hour). In the second phase clinical trial of 44 patients, the clinical response rate was 63.7% and the histological response rate by the Oboshi-Shimosato's evaluation was 61.4%. The main adverse events were myelosuppression and gastrointestinal disturbance such as nausea 36.4%, anorexia 27.3%, neutropenia 25% and leukopenia 25%. Grade 3 and 4 adverse events were neutropenia 11.4%, leukopenia 9.1%, thrombocytopenia 4.5% and oligochromemia 4.5%. The two-year overall survival rate was 92.6%. The advantages of this chemotherapy are high response rate, low adverse effects and not to prevent planned therapies such as surgery and radiation. These facts suggest that this chemotherapy is suitable for preoperative chemotherapy.