Clinical Characteristics of Oral, Oropharyngeal, and Hypopharyngeal Cancers in Northern Taiwan: Preliminary Report

Background and Purpose:Oral cancer currently is the sixth most common cancer in all populations and is even in fourth place in the male population of Taiwan. This disease is becoming a great threat to our society and remains a big challenge for all medical professionals. Materials and methods:Fifty-seven patients with oral, oropharyngeal, and hypopharyngeal cancers werecollected from the beginning of our head and neck services at the Shiji Cathay General Hospital.Age, gender, primary sites, disease stages, histological types, and treatment options were recorded. Finally, survival was estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. Results:Among 57 patients, the tongue remained the most common site of tumor origin. The vast majority of histological types consisted of squamous cell carcinoma (90%). Most cases were found to have stage IV disease(38.6%). Twenty-two cases in the stage IV group were found to have an estimated 43-month survival of 64.3% (standard deviation, 12.3%). Conclusions:Incidences of oral, oropharyngeal, and hypopharyngeal cancers remain high. According to our up-to-date study, we achieved quitepromisingresults, although much work has to be done when facing the disease. (FJJM 2011; 9 (1): 7-14)