[Clinical study of postcricoid carcinoma]

We had 31 patients (8 males and 23 females) with postcricoid carcinoma in the period from 1978 to 1988. This number of patients correspond to about 15.3% of patient with hypopharyngeal carcinoma we encountered in this period. There were 4 patients in the condition Stage I, 8 in Stage II, 7 in Stage III and 12 in Stage IV. Most of these patients underwent radical surgery, 5-year cumulative survival rate was 46.8% (Kaplan-Meier). The cause of death was neck metastasis in 75% of patients who died of postcricoid carcinoma. There was a significant difference in survival curve between patients with neck metastasis and patients free from it (5-year cumulative survival rate was 68.0% and 16.7%, respectively; p less than 0.01). Neck metastasis was noted in the paratracheal region in 29.0% of patients. In patients with primary tumor of not larger 2.5cm (n = 7), no metastasis was noted, nor recurrence in this series of patients.