Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of patients in the head and neck surgery department of a university hospital.

Maurício José Cabral Ruback,Luiz Sérgio Raposo,Ana Lívia Galbiatti,Gustavo Henrique Marucci,Erika Cristina Pavarino,Mariangela Torreglosa Ruiz-Cintra,José Victor Maniglia,Eny Maria Goloni-Bertollo,Lidia Maria Rebolho Batista Arantes,Anelise Russo

doi:10.1590/s1516-31802012000500007

Maurício José Cabral Ruback, Luiz Sérgio Raposo + Show 8 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1590/s1516-31802012000500007

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Abstract

Head and neck cancer is the fifth most common type of cancer worldwide. The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical and epidemiological parameters in a head and neck surgery service. Cross-sectional study using patients' records, developed in otolaryngology and head and neck department of a university hospital in the northwest of the state of São Paulo. A total of 995 patients in the head and neck surgery service between January 2000 and May 2010 were evaluated. The variables analyzed included: age, gender, skin color, tobacco and alcohol consumption, primary site, staging and histological tumor type, treatment and number of deaths. The disease was more frequent among men (79.70%), smokers (75.15%) and alcohol abusers (58.25%). The most representative sites were oral cavity (29.65%) and larynx (24.12%) for the primary site; squamous cell carcinoma (84.92%) was the most frequent histological type, and surgery (29.04%) and radiotherapy (14.19%) were the most common treatments. The cancer that affects patients assisted by the head and neck surgery service occurs mainly men, smokers and alcohol abusers, and the oral cavity and larynx are the sites with the highest incidence. The high rate of patients with stages III and IV indicates late diagnosis by the treatment centers, which reflects the need for prevention education campaigns for early diagnosis of the disease.

Highlights

Head and neck surgery departments treat patients with malignant tumors of the upper aerodigestive tract, skin and thyroid, the term “head and neck cancer” is frequently used for the group of neoplasms located in the upper aerodigestive tract: approximately 40% of them occur in the oral cavity, 15% in the pharynx, 25% in larynx and 20% at other anatomical sites.[2,3]
The medical records of 1,351 cancer patients treated at the Otolaryngology and Head and Neck department of a university hospital in the northwest of the state of São Paulo, which has 16 resident physicians, 20 medical students, 4 teachers and 10 nurses, between January 2000 and May 2010, were evaluated
Other types of malignant tumors such as adenocarcinoma, melanoma, sarcoma, chondrosarcoma, fibrosarcoma and follicular carcinoma accounted for 3.08% (Table 2)

Summary

Introduction

Head and neck surgery departments treat patients with malignant tumors of the upper aerodigestive tract, skin and thyroid, the term “head and neck cancer” is frequently used for the group of neoplasms located in the upper aerodigestive tract: approximately 40% of them occur in the oral cavity, 15% in the pharynx, 25% in larynx and 20% at other anatomical sites.[2,3] Approximately 95% of these tumors have squamous cell carcinoma as the primary histological type.[4]. Head and neck cancer is the fifth most common type of cancer worldwide, among all neoplasms.[4] The overall survival rate for this cancer is variable, depending on the primary site and disease stage. In 2009, 6,530 deaths were registered in Brazil as a result of oral cancer, being 5,136 for men and 1,394 for women.[7]

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