1. Hong WK, Lippman SM, Wolf GT: Recent advances in head and neck cancer-larynx preservation and cancer chemoprevention: the seventeenth annual Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Foundation award lecture. Cancer Res 1993, 53:5113–5120.
2. Forastiere AA, Berkey B, Maor M, et al.: Phase III trial to preserve the larynx: induction chemotherapy and radiotherapy versus concomitant chemoradiotherapy versus radiotherapy alone, Intergroup trial R91-11. Proc Am Soc Clin Oncol 2001, 20:2A. The Intergroup trial R91-11 evaluated the effectiveness of primary radiation therapy versus neoadjuvant chemotherapy/ radiation therapy versus concomitant chemotherapy/ radiation therapy. This study demonstrated improvements in laryngectomy-free survival, time to laryngectomy, and larynx preservation when comparing concomitant chemotherapy/ radiation therapy with radiation therapy alone.
3. Robbins KT, Fontanesi J, Wong FS, et al.: A novel organ preservation protocol for advanced carcinoma of the larynx and pharynx. Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg 1996, 122:853–857. Intra-arterial chemotherapy approaches with concomitant radiation therapy have been employed to enhance drug delivery to the tumor site. In this sentinel study, a complete response at the primary site was obtained in 86% of patients and the 2-year overall and disease-specific survival was 64% and 76% respectively.
4. Wolf GT, Hong WK, Fisher SG, et al.: Induction chemotherapy plus radiation compared with surgery plus radiation in patients with advanced laryngeal cancer. N Engl J Med 1991, 325:1685–1690. Until recently, most research focused on neoadjuvant or induction chemotherapy. Although survival has not improved, neoadjuvant chemotherapy/radiation therapy with surgical salvage has resulted in similar survival rates while maintaining an intact, functional larynx in many surviving patients.
5. Mendenhall WM, Parsons JT, Mancuso AA, et al.: Radiotherapy for squamous cell carcinoma of the supraglottic larynx: an alternative to surgery. Head Neck 1996, 1:24–35.