Treatments and prognosis of patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the therapeutic outcomes of mainly-surgery or mainly-radiotherapy treatment and define the prognostic factors in patients with squamous cell carcinoma(SCC)of the oropharynx.METHODS From March 1985 to October 2005,239 patients with SCC of the oropharynx proved pathologically were eligible for the present study.One hundred and seventy three of them were treated with radiotherapy followed surgery or not(RT±S),while 66 of them were treated with surgery followed radiotherapy or not(S± RT).According to TNM staging system,there were 15 patents in stage I,45 in stage Ⅱ,71 in stage Ⅲ,108 in stage IV.Kaplan-Meier and Logrank tests were used for survival analysis,while Cox stepwise regression model was used for multivariate analysis of prognostic factors.RESULTS The 3-year survival rates in two treatment group were 54.5% and 52% respectively and the 5-year survival rates were 44.9% and 43.8% respectively.Difference of survival rates between the two groups was not statistically significant.The 3-year survival rates based on stage were 73.3% for stage I,70.4% for stage Ⅱ,54.2% for stage Ⅲ,41.3% for stage IV.The 5-year survival rates based on stage were 66.0% for stage I,63.1% for stage Ⅱ,47.6% for stage Ⅲ,30.5% for stage IV.Multivariate analysis showed that AJCC stage,tumor stage and nodal stage were the significant prognostic factors.CONCLUSION The survival rates of patients in two treatment groups were not statistically different.AJCC stage,primary tumor and nodal stage were the signi?cant prognostic factors.