[Hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: retrospective study of 149 patients]

Hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma is associated to one of the most unfavorable prognosis among the cancers of the head and neck. The purpose of this study is to analyze its therapeutic modalities in the Salah-Azaïz Institute (Tunis) and to compare their results.

This retrospective study concerns 271 hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinomas, compiled in the Carcinologic Surgery Department of Head and Neck of the Salah-Azaïz Institute over a period of 25 years (from 1977 to 2002). The average age of the patients was of 56 years; sex-ratio was on average of 1.2 (man/woman). The indication of a curative treatment was initially retained for 149 (55%) patients, who were the only ones retained for the analysis of results.

We retained the indication of a protocol including surgery and postoperating radiotherapy for 26.2% of the patients. Postoperation mortality rate was 5.1%; the operating rate of morbidity was 46.2%. For 13.5% of the patients, postoperating radiotherapy was permanently interrupted because of a gradual deterioration of the patients' health in the course of treatment. We retained the indication of exclusive radiotherapy for 59.7% of the patients. The average age was of 56 years and the sex-ratio of 1.2. The external radiotherapy was conventional. Radiotherapy had to be permanently interrupted in progress in 32.6% of cases on account of an deterioration of the patients' health; the rate of morbidity of the radiotherapy was 33.3%. We indicated a protocol of conservation of organ with induction chemotherapy for 21 patients (14.1%). The average age was of 53 years (28-65 years) and sex-ratio (man/woman) of 0.5. The global survival was 25.5% at one year, 18.1% at two years, 11.4% at three years and 7.4% at five years. All the patients selected for chemotherapy died in the course of treatment. The rates of survival in two and five years according to protocols surgery-radiotherapy and exclusive radiotherapy were respectively: 21.5 and 12%, and 18.3 and 10%. The difference between the rates of survival of this two protocols is not significant (P =0.08).

Although the induction chemotherapy entails a particularly high death rate in our series, the association surgery-radiotherapy and the exclusive radiotherapy seem to be similarly efficient for the treatment of the hypopharyngeal carcinoma.