Prophylaxis of Tumour Recurrence and Metastasis with a Mixture of Tegafur and Uracil in Head and Neck Cancers

Abstract Objective : The recurrence of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma following postoperative tegafur uracil was retrospectively investigated. Patients and Methods : Twenty two patients with head and neck cancer who underwent curative resection after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and started postoperative chemotherapy with tegafur uracil within 7 days were entered into the study. Thirty patients received the same neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy but did not have postoperative chemotherapy. These 2 groups of patients were followed up for at least 1 year. Results : The 5-year overall survival rates of the group receiving tegafur uracil and the control group were 85.1 % and 56.7%, respectively (p Conclusion : Postoperative tegafur uracil was considered to be effective for improvement of overall survival and prophylaxis of metastatic recurrence.