Tracking of hypopharyngeal carcinoma over 10 years

Between September 1981 and July 1991 we treated 27 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the hypopharynx. Almost all of the patients in the early stages received radiotherapy only, while patients in advanced stages received combination therapy involving chemotherapy, surgery and/or radiotherapy. Since 1987, chemotherapy has often been used to treat hypopharyngeal carcinoma in our department. Twelve patients received neo-adjuvant chemotherapy before surgery and/or radiotherapy. The 3-year survival rate for patients in the advanced stage treated with neo-adjuvant chemotherapy was 16.7% by the Kaplan-Meier method, and the 5-year survival rate of those treated without neo-adjuvant chemotherapy was 45.8%. The overall 5-year survival rate was 37.0%.