Thirty-one cases of carcinoma of the hypopharynx treated between 1970 and 1983were investigated retrospectively. The carcinoma was in the piriform sinus in 17 cases, postcricoid in 10, and posterior pharyngeal wall in 4 cases. The stage II and III occupied 74.5% of all cases, and were particularly more frequent in postcricoid carcinoma. The rate of cervical lymph node metastasis in postcricoid carcinoma was high. The group treated by surgery had a higher five-year survival rate than the nonsurgery group, and the group treated with combined therapy of irradiation and surgery had a higher five-year survival rate than the group of surgery alone. The surgical treatment applied in the 17 cases was pharyngolaryngotomy in 3, pharyngolaryngoesophagotomy in 13, partial resection of pharynx in 1. The five-year survival rate for all the patients was 40.4%.
