[Monitoring of thyroid function in patients treated for cancer of the upper respiratory and digestive tract]

A study was carried out at Hôpital Boucicaut to determine the incidence of iatrogenic biological thyroid dysfunction in patients treated for cancer of the upper digestive and respiratory tracts, and to define the risk profile (tumor localisations, practical therapeutical procedures). Two studies were conducted: a prospective on including 18 patients and a retrospective one including 58 patients. Only partial results are currently available. They permit emphasizing the frequency of biological thyroid dysfunction associated both with combination surgical and radiotherapeutical regimens and radiotherapy or radiotherapy alone for the treatment of lesions of the piriform sinus, although they fail to provide conclusive evidence regarding the real frequency of this type pathology or the time of its occurrence.