Abstract
In recent years, the incidence of multiple primary cancers in the head and neck regions has actually increased year by year. Inuyama et al. reported the incidence of multiple primary cancers in the head and neck regions as 2.1% of the total their head and neck cancer casesi 1976. Recent reports have revealed the incidence of such cancers to be over 20%. In our series of 74 oropharyngeal cancer patients, the incidence of multiple primary cancers was regarded as 36% (27/74). In terms of the concept of field carcinogenesis or multicentric zones, endo-scopic examination of the esophagus and stomach-including Lugol's solution test-are consid-ered essential in the high risk group for the early detection of multiple primary cancer. From the viewpoint of prophylactic medicine, we consider education regarding not only decreased smoking and alcohol consumption but also chemoprevention to be important.
