Abstract
Between January 1989 and December 1993, 89 head and neck cancer patients, who were all older than 70 years of age, were treated and surgery was performed on 39 patients. The primary sites included laryngeal cancer (10 cases) and thyroid cancer (14 cases). The cumulative five year survival rate was 44.1% in the 39 surgically treated patients. In contrast, the cumulative five year survival rate of the patients without operation was 29.6%. Regarding the quality of life of these patients, it is important to obtain the close cooperation of both the family and medical staff in postoperative rehabilitation.
