Abstract
Clinico-statistical observation was performed on 285 patients with malignant tumors treated in our clinic over the past 15 years, from January 1976 to December 1990. The results obtained were as follows.
1. The patients accounted for 267 carcinomas (93.7 %), 16 sarcomas (5.6 %) and 2 other malignancies (0.7 %) . Meanwhile 173 were male and 112 were fem ale giving a male: female ratio of 1.5: 1. The age ranged between 21 and 92 years and the mean age was 59.8 years. The highest prevalence was found in the 7 th decade.
2. The main symptoms were, in descending order, pain (29.6 %), mass (27.9 %) and erosion or ulceration (27.9%) while in 271 primary cases, the most common site was the tongue, accounting for 38.0 %.
3. Histopathologically, 234 cases were diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma which accounted for 82.1 % of all cases and 87.6 % of all carcinomas.
4. With respect to therapy, 87 cases (30.5 %) were treated by preoperative chemotherapy plus surgery, and 85 cases (29.8 %) were treated by surgery alone.
5. The 5-year cumulative survival rate of 271 primary cases was 66.3 %, and according to histological typing, the survival rate of carcinoma, sarcoma and other malignancies were 67.1 %, 45.0 % and 100 %, respectively.
