CARCINOMA OF THE PYRIFORM SINUS - A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF TREATMENT RESULTS OVER A 20-YEAR PERIOD

One hundred and one patients with pyriform sinus carcinoma treated at the Netherlands Cancer Institute were studied retrospectively. The pat ients were staged according to the UICC criteria of 1987: there were n o stage I, 23 stage II, 30 stage III, and 48 stage IV patients. The tr eatment consisted of radiotherapy (n = 45), a planned combination of s urgery and post-operative radiotherapy (n = 47) or surgery alone (n = 9). The crude 5-year survival was 27%, whereas the 5-year disease-free survival was 37%. The locoregional disease-free survival was 52%. Sta ge according to the UICC 1987 criteria is an important prognostic vari able (P = 0.0026). Furthermore, significantly less locoregional recurr ences and a better disease-free survival were seen in the combined sur gery and radiotherapy group than in the exclusively irradiated group ( P < 0.0001).