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 includ- ing neo-adjuvant, concurrent and adjuvant therapy in treating squamous cell car- cinoma 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), num- ber 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 treat- ing SCC, the recommended treatment plan is chemotherapy and radiotherapy si- multaneously.