Randomized study of neoadjuvant chemotherapy to allow mandibular preservation in oral cavity cancer

Surgery is the mainstay of treatment for oral squamous cell carcinoma, with mandibular resection being a part of this treatment when involved by disease. A significant subset of patients undergo segmental mandibular resection. A randomized phase II study in India explored the possibility of using neoadjuvant chemotherapy in such patients to achieve tumor shrinkage that could enable a more conservative surgery and avoid the need for segmental mandibular resection. With this strategy mandibular preservation was achieved in 47% of patients in the intervention arm. The disease-free and overall survival were similar to that in the standard arm.