Abstract
Forty patients with external ear canal and/or middle ear cancer were treated at the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Kobe University Hospital during the past 12 years. The tumors were classified according to the staging system proposed by Kishimoto. as follows: 15 lesions as T1 and T2 and 25 lesions as T3 and T4. Either surgery or radiotherapy has led to no local recurrence for early stages (T1 and T2). The 5-year estimated survival rates of the patients with T3 and T4 lesions treated by surgery and by radiotherapy were 64% and 15%, respectively. Particularly, the 2-year estimated survival rates of these patients treated with radiotherapy were 100% (3/3) for T3 and 17% (1/6) for T4, respectively. These results suggest that radiotherapy might be the alternative best treatment option for T3 lesions but for T4 lesions.
