Chemotherapy for Tumors of the Head and Neck

Kiehn, Clifford L.; Desprez, John D.; Benson, Jerrel W.

doi:10.1097/00006534-196211000-00004

Cited by 7 publications

(1 citation statement)

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“…In clinical practice there is some evidence that wounds made within a short time of exposure to methotrexate do badly (Kiehn, Desprez and Benson, 1962;Notaras, 1963, personal communication) with the incidence of wound infection and disruption varying from 50-80 per cent.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The effect of methotrexate (amethopterin) on wound healing: an experimental study

Calnan¹,

Davies²

1965

Br J Cancer

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THE value of cytotoxic agents in the treatment of cancer is now established, and the comparative place of the many available agents in different tumours is now becoming clear (Davies 1964). In this respect, methotrexate is accepted as the drug of choice for epithelioma of the head and neck, although it is less clear how and when it should be employed.Given intra-arterially and used as the sole agent in regional infusion therapy, about 10% of tumours are cured and nearly 50 % show partial regression (Burn, 1964;Johnston, 1964). Although these results are full of promise they are nonetheless disappointing. Some form of adjuvant therapy has therefore been recommended. Philip (1964) has shown that the cure rate can be improved when methotrexate is combined with radiotherapy, and Routledge (1964) has used it before surgical excision of a tumour. Although improved survival figures can be shown by combined techniques, they are small in relation to the numbers who show local recurrence of their tumours. A new method of treatment, in which methotrexate was infused intra-arterially before and after surgical excision of the tumour, seemed worthy of trial. Before starting such a trial we wished to study the effect of methotrexate on wound healing experimentally. MATERIALSWe chose white Norwegian (" Wistar ") rats because they had been used in the study of wound healing many times before, and the findings appear to be comparable with those in man. All were young (4-6 weeks) females. METHODSFour standard wounds were made on the backs of a group of rats of similar weight and the animals allocated at random to one form of treatment. Adequate controls were used in every experiment. The tensile strength of the wounds was measured 3, 5 and 7 days after wounding, using a Sandblom tensiometer (Calnan and Fry, 1963). The measurements were made without reference to treatment, and the data examined by an analysis of variance. The methotrexate, or other drug, was freshly made up and given intraperitoneally in 1 c.c. volumes each day. The rats were housed in separate cages at room temperature and fed on a pellet diet (Dixon's No. 7) with water ad libitum.Six experiments were performed.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%