[Cancer of the upper aerodigestive tract. Global study of 2418 cases]

The authors present the general results of a retrospective study on 2418 patients treated between 1976 and 1980. Primaries were located on buccopharynx in 51% of cases, pharyngolarynx in 45% and nasopharynx or nasal and paranasal cavities in 4%. Two out of 3 tumours were classified T3 T4 (UICC 1979) and 1 out of 2 patients presented with palpable cervical lymph nodes. Taking into account persistent diseases and recurrences, failure at primary sites occurred in 40% of patients, in the neck in 20%, distant metastases in 10%. Synchronous and/or metachronous cancers were observed in 1 out of 3 patients. Actuarial survival rates were 2/3 at 1 year, 1/3 at 3 years, 1/4 at 5 years and 1/7 at 8 years. Endolaryngeal tumours had the best prognosis while hypopharyngeal tumours had the worst prognosis.