Abstract
Twenty-six cases (squamous cell carcinoma: 24, mucoepidermoid carcinoma: 1, undifferentiated carcinoma: 1) who were treated for cancers of the palatine tonsil between 1975 and 1998 are clinically reviewed. Advanced cases (stage III and IV) were found in 23 of 26 cases (88.5%). As a result, the 2-year crude survival rate of the early cases (stage I and II) was 100%. Regarding the advanced cases with either radiotherapy alone or radio chemotherapy, the 2-year crude survival rate was 40%. Regarding advanced cases combined with surgery and radiotherapy or chemotherapy, the 2-year crude survival rate was 66.7%. In the cases surviving more than 5 years after aggressive therapy (salvage operation or radiotherapy), 4 or 5 cases demonstrated either residual carcinoma or lymphnode recurrence. Fifteen of 22 patients who underwent radiotherapy showed CR. Six of 15 cases survived more than 5 years with CR. These CR cases were not related to the grades of T, N and/or histopathologic differentiation. The 3 cases who died (except for those with either therapeutic or operative mortality) and 1 recurrent surviving cases were all stage N, well differentiated cancers.
