title: Cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract in Korea.
abstract: Cancers of the upper aerodigestive tract (UADT) constitute 3.5-4% of all malignancies. Since the majority of cases are squamous cell carcinomas which are related with epidemiologic factors, a different pattern of UADT cancer might be present between the Western and Asian populations. We performed a pathology based statistical study on UADT cancers in Korean patients. Cases from Korea Cancer Center Hospital, from January 1, 1988 through December 31, 1998, were subjected to the study. Among 2,842 cases, epithelial malignancies accounted for 87.8%, with squamous cell carcinoma as the major type (76.5%). The larynx was the most commonly affected site (26%), followed by the oral cavity (25.1%), oropharynx (13%), nasopharynx (9%), hypopharynx (8.4%), paranasal sinuses (6.4%), nasal cavity (6%) and salivary glands (6.1%). The percentage of squamous cell carcinoma was highest (98.7%) at the hypopharynx, and lowest at the nasal cavity (42.3%), which showed the most diverse tumor entities. Korean patients with UADT cancers presented with a higher incidence of non-epidermoid malignancy including sarcoma (1.5%) and malignant melanoma (1.4%), and a higher frequency of involvement of the sinonasal tract, compared with the Western patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Diagnostic Pathology, Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan College of Medicine, 388-1 Pungnap-dong, Songpa-gu, Seoul 138-736, Korea. kjc@med.ulsan.ac.kr
authors.forename: Kyung Ja
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.forename: Shin Kwang
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Khang
authors.forename: Seung Sook
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Jae Soo
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Koh
authors.forename: Jin Haeng
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Chung
authors.forename: Yong Sik
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Yoon Sang
authors.initials: YS
authors.lastname: Shim
mesh_terms: D006258:Head and Neck Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007012:Hypopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology; D007723:Korea; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology; D009296:Nasal Cavity; D009303:Nasopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology; D009959:Oropharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology; D010255:Paranasal Sinus Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology; D012468:Salivary Gland Neoplasms / Q000145:classification / Q000473:pathology