A Survival Analysis of Hypopharyngeal Cancer Patients: A Hospital-Cancer registry Based Study

To study the survival in patients affected with hypopharyngeal cancer among treatment groups and different stages. Data of hypopharyngeal cancer patients diagnosed from 1st January 2010 to 31st December 2010 was used in the present study. The cases were analyzed for gender, age group distribution, sub-sites at presentation, stage at diagnosis and the type of treatments. Survival from the date of first diagnosis was estimated and hazard ratios were calculated. Survival probability and hazards ratios (HR) were calculated by Kaplan-Meier method and Cox-proportional regression analysis respectively. Censoring of patient who survived longer than 5 years was done. Active follow-up was done for the survival analysis. The study cohort included 217 patients and treatment compliance was observed in 46.9% of cases. The median age at diagnosis was 57 years (range 24-90), 86.2% of cases were locally advanced cases (stage III and IV), pyriform sinus was major sub-site (96%), radiotherapy was main treatment modality alone in 84.8% of cases, median survival was 31 months and 5-year overall survival was 36.9%, and HR for stage IV was 1.9 (P = 0.03, 95% CI - 1.04 to 3.7). In developing setting of North East India, radiotherapy was the main modality of treatment for hypopharyngeal cancer patients, and understanding the clinical parameters and survival of this group of cancers is crucial for its control.