Over the past four years, 27 patients with recurrent tumors of the head and neck region have been treated with chemotherapy. The regimens used were BCMF (bleomycin 15 mg i.v. for 3 days, cyclophosphamide 500 mg i.v., methotrexate 50 mg i.v. and 5-fluorouracil 500 mg i.v.) and CMU (cyclophosphamide 350 mg/m2 i.v., methotrexate 30 mg/m2 i.v. and UFT 600 mg p.o. for 14 days). Of the 27 patients, eight were treated with combined radiation and chemotherapy, and either CR or PR was obtained. Nineteen patients were treated with chemotherapy alone, for which the response (CR + PR) rates were 8% (1/12) for BCMF and 43% (3/7) for CMU, respectively. No serious toxicities were observed as a result of these regimens. It was thus demonstrated that the CMU regimen was of great value in terms of improved response and minor toxicity in the treatment of head and neck tumors.