DISEASE CHARACTERISTICS: Histologically proven nasopharyngeal carcinoma (excluding adenocarcinoma), stage III or IV with no evidence of distant metastatic disease (M0) No lung, bone, or liver metastases as proven within 42 days of registration by: -CT scan or nucleotide study of the chest or chest x-ray -liver and bone scan if alkaline phosphatase is greater than the institutional upper limit of normal (ULN), or if clinically indicated -liver scan if SGOT is greater than the institutional ULN