OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the disease-free survival in hypopharyngeal tumors submitted to postoperative radiotherapy. METHODS: we retrospectively studied 174 patients with the following distribution: two cases of stage I, four stage II, 46 stage III and 122 stage IV. Regarding gender, 163 were male and 11 female; mean age was 56 years. All patients underwent pharyngolaryngectomy; neck dissections were radical in 206 and selective in 16. One hundred six patients underwent postoperative radiotherapy, with a mean dose of 58.2 Gy. RESULTS: Histological examination showed two cases of stage pT1, 15 stage pT2, 100 stage pT3 and 57 stage pT4. As for lymph nodes, 25 patients had no involvement (pN0); 149 presented with lymph node invasion (pN +). Five-year disease-free survival was 40% and the overall survival was 28%. According to the results of histological examination, five-year disease-free survival was 75% in clinical stage III versus 28% in IV. CONCLUSION: The initial manifestation of squamous cell carcinoma of the hypopharynx happens in advanced stages (III and IV), with superior five-year disease-free survival in clinical stage III.
Carcinoma, squamous cell; Neoplasms; Hypopharynx; Disease-free survival
