1994 Volume 40 Issue 6 Pages 923-927
From 1986 through 1991, 41 patients with hypopharyngeal carcinoma were treated at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of the Ryukyus, Faculty of Medicine. The treatment modalities included surgery in 20 patients, and surgery plus postoperative radiation in 21 patients. Nineteen patients (47%) had recurrent tumors, which were the most frequent in the neck lymph nodes. The frequency of recurrence seemed to be correlated with the presence of N factor before treatment. The recurrence rate observed after treatment was 35% in the operated cases and 57% in the post operatively irradiated cases. Based on a comparison of the treatment modalities, surgery plus post operative radiation was found to offer a slight advantage over surgery alone in reducing tumor recurrence.
