Abstract
Of 382 head and neck cancers in our hospital from 1975 to 1985, 35 cases (9.2%) had multiple primary neoplasms. Four cases had three primary cancers. The ages of these 35 cases ranged from 39 to 83 years (mean age 64.1 years) and male to female ratio was 2.2:1. As to the interval between the first and the second tumor, 13 cases (42%) were synchronous and 18 (58%) were metachronous. Second primary malignancies occured in the head and neck region were 35.5% and those in other regions were 64.5%. As for the other regions, the stomach, esophagus and lung were predominant. Four out of 35 patients survived more than 5 years.
Three cases in which the second or the third primary was symptomless were identified by gastroendoscopy. The most frequent second site of malignancies in cancer patients was the digestive tract in Japan. Gastroendoscopy should be used routinely for the diagnosis of multiple primary cancers, because it shows no motality and low morbidity rate.
