Late Diagnosis of Carcinomas of the Oropharynx -Decisive Prognostic Factor

Overview

The authors evaluate retrospectively a group of 178 patients who were treated in 1985-1997 bythe ENT oncological team of the Third Medical Faculty Charles University and Faculty HospitalVinohrady on account of carcinoma of the oropharynx. It was found that the condition affectsmen more frequently, the male:female ratio being 7:3. The mean age of the men was 57 years,the mean age of women 67 years. 80% of the patients attended the Clinic only when the diseasewas already advanced - in the IIIrd and IVth clinical stage. This has a major influence ontherapeutic possibilities. In the submitted group thus only 50% of the patients could be treatedin an optimal manner by combined surgical and oncological treatment. 39% of the patients weretreated by conservative methods without surgery, by actinotherapy or actinotherapy combinedwith cytostatic chemotherapy. 11% of the patients could be treated only symptomatically dueto their poor general condition, in particular the advanced disease. The therapeutic results incarcinomas in the initial stages I and II are good, the probability of 5-year survival was assessedby the Kaplan-Meier test as 85%. The results of 5-year survival of patients with advanceddisease in clinical stage III and IV are much worse, the 5-year survival of patients treated bysurgical and oncological methods was 30%, the 5-year survival of patients in these stages treatedconservatively was 0%. The mean 5-year survival of the whole group of patients was 30%.

Key words:
carcinoma of the oropharynx - combined treatment - therapeutic results.