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Updated: Jun 22, 2026

Therapy Testing in a Spheroid-based 3D Cell Culture Model for Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma
Published on: April 20, 2018
Importance of comorbidity in hypopharyngeal cancer
Akihiro Homma1, Tomohiro Sakashita, Nobuhiko Oridate
1Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Medicine, Kita 15, Nishi 7, Kita-ku, Sapporo 060-8638, Japan. ak-homma@med.hokudai.ac.jp
Background:
Comorbidity has an impact on survival in laryngeal cancer in several reports. However, the importance of comorbidity in hypopharyngeal cancer (HPC) has not been reported.
Methods:
A retrospective medical record review of 156 patients with HPC treated between 1995 and 2005 was performed. Comorbid illness was measured by the Adult Comorbidity Evaluation-27. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to determine the factors related to overall survival.
Results:
Comorbidity was absent in 55 (35.2%) of the patients, mild in 39 (25%), moderate in 28 (17.9%), and severe in 34 (21.8%). There were statistically significant differences between the survival rates in accord with age, stage, subsite, and comorbidity (45.1% for none or mild vs 27.7% for moderate or severe; p = .0073). Age, stage, and comorbidity were identified as independent prognostic factors in the multivariate analysis.
Conclusion:
Comorbidity, along with the clinical stage, should be considered in treatment planning for patients with HPC.
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