Head and neck cancer. Relationship of the prechemotherapy serum alkaline phosphatase levels to response rate of induction chemotherapy.

Fifty-one patients with stage III or IV squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck who received induction chemotherapy with cisplatin and bleomycin sulfate with and without high-dose methotrexate were studied. The relationship of the prechemotherapy levels of serum alkaline phosphatase, lactic dehydrogenase, SGOT, SGPT, BUN, creatinine, calcium, total protein, albumin, hemoglobin, uric acid, and bilirubin and the WBC and platelet counts was correlated with the response rate. The overall response rate was 65%. No notable relationship between any of the laboratory values and the response rate was found. In contrast to an earlier report, patients with a low alkaline phosphatase level responded as well as patients with an elevated serum alkaline phosphatase level.