MAJOR SURGERY OF ORAL AND OROPHARYNGEAL CARCINOMA

Thirty-two composite resections were carried out in the Department of Otolaryngology at Groote Schuur Hospital for oral and oro-pharyngeal s quamous carcinoma over the 10-year period, 1977-1986. Three patients w ere lost to review but all others were followed up to death or to five years. Twenty-seven patients underwent surgery as their primary proce dure and five for recurrence after primary radiotherapy. The overall s urvival was 16 patients at three years and eight at five years. Only o ne of the five patients who underwent salvage surgery after failed rad iotherapy was alive at five years and all five experienced serious pos toperative complications. All those surviving over five years had had either N0 or N1 disease at the time of presentation for surgery.