Treatment of Stage III Lip and Oral Cavity Cancer

Surgery and/or radiation therapy are used, depending on the exact tumor site.[1,2] Neoadjuvant chemotherapy, as given in clinical trials, has been used to shrink tumors and render them more definitively treatable with either surgery or radiation. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy is given prior to the other modalities, as opposed to standard adjuvant chemotherapy, which is given after or during definitive therapy with radiation or after surgery. Many drug combinations have been used as neoadjuvant chemotherapy.[3-6] However, randomized, prospective trials have yet to demonstrate a benefit in either disease-free survival or overall survival for patients receiving neoadjuvant chemotherapy.[7]