Abstract
We considered 66 patients, 75 years old or more, with head and neck squamous cell cancer. The 66 elderly patients were operated on at the Kyushu Cancer Center between 2005-2010. Poor performance status (PS3-4) was observed in 10% of the patients, and comorbidity was observed in 77% of the patients. The definitive treatment group was 98% in primary therapy, but in recurrent therapy, palliative therapy was 48%, which has the biggest number of patients. The overall (disease specific) three-year survival rate of the 66 patients was 56% (71%). The survival rate for the PS3-4 group was significantly lower than that for the PS0-2 group. However, comorbidity and complications due to treatment made no significant difference to the survival rate. In the treatment of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma in the elderly, PS was the most important factor, more important than age itself and comorbidity.
