Various clinical trials carried out during the last few decades have clearly demonstrated that the concomitant use of radiotherapy and chemotherapy significantly improves local control in a variety of advanced solid tumours. In most of these trials where an improvement was noted, cisplatin was used in addition to radiotherapy either on its own or in combination with other cytostatics. This has led to improved survival rates in head and neck, lung and cervical cancer. For these solid tumours, the interaction of radiotherapy with chemotherapy appears to be schedule dependent, as no such an improvement was observed if chemotherapy was given prior to or after radiotherapy. A major advantage of this combined therapy is that a structure-preserving treatment for patients with advanced larynx or anal cancer is more often possible. Major further improvement can be expected from the design and use of new drugs that influence the pathways leading to cell death after irradiation.
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