Evaluation of Neo-Adjuvant, Concurrent and Adjuvant Chemotherapy in the Treatment of Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Meta-Analysis

OBJECTIVE: Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is the most common malignancy of the oral cavity. This study aims to evaluate different treatment procedures including neo-adjuvant, concurrent and adjuvant therapy in treating squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck by a meta-analysis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The authors searched all electronic databases (Medline, Embase and Cochrane) for all the articles published from 1970 to January 2011. Data of the evaluated treatment procedures (chemotherapy or radiotherapy), number of patients, publishing date and the authors’ names have all been extracted from the articles and have been categorized in a table. RESULTS: Forty-six researches are included in this study. All three ways show that using chemotherapy after or with radiotherapy improves the vitality rate significantly (p-value< 0.01). CONCLUSION: It is concluded that after deciding not to perform a surgery for treating SCC, the recommended treatment plan is chemotherapy and radiotherapy simultaneously.