Surgical salvage after failure of radiation therapy in patients with advanced cancer of the oral cavity and oropharyn

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Abstract
Despite the small number of patients involved, this single institution study has the advantage of having been accomplished by an integrated interdisciplinary group with the same members having been involved throughout the years. Delayed composite resection can be accomplished after failure of a full course or irradiation in poor risk patients and disease can be controlled in some. A well defined dose complication curve was generated. This will provide a guide for future studies. It will be interesting to compare these results with those of the new Radiation Therapy Oncology Group study, which is designed to test the relative merits of preoperative irradiation at 5000 rads/5 wk, postoperative irradiation and radiation therapy with surgical rescue. If preoperative irradiation is best, the dose level should be tested.