Abstract
Among the cases with oropharyngeal cancer, the ones with primary suture without repairing free flaps after excision by the trans-oral and intra-neck method (the “pull-through excision”) were examined. Among 60 cases of surgical operation, there were 30 cases done by the pull-through excision. Among them, 19 cases with primary suture after excision were selected as subjects. Regarding complications after operation, one case of fistulization was identified. It took 7-20 days (11.5 on average) until ingestion was resumed, with hospital stays of 11-30 days (19 days on average) for the 19 patients. Two cases of surgical margin positive and six cases of extracapsular extension of nodal disease were identified. For these cases, chemo-radiotherapy or radiotherapy was conducted after the operation. Although there was one case of recurrence which led to death from the primary disease, the other cases have shown good therapeutic progress with no recurrence identified. The disease-specific survival rate was 90%.
