title: [Clinical analysis of 318 cases of oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the clinicopathological features, treatment outcomes and prognosis of patients with oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC).
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective review of 318 consecutive cases with OSCC treated from January 1999 to December 2011. Survival rates and prognostic factors were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and multivariate Cox model survival analysis respectively. There were 281 males and 37 females, with a median age of 56 years. Of the 318 cases, 163 carcinomas were from tonsil, 108 from tongue base and 47 from soft palate-uvula. The presenting symptoms were pharyngalgia (128 cases, 40.3%), neck masses (71 cases, 22.3%), foreign body sensation in the pharynx (63 cases, 19.8%) and dental ulcer (44 cases, 13.8%). The median time from onset of the first symptoms until diagnosis of OSCC was 3 months. Of the 318 OSCC, 75 were with high grade, 110 with intermediate grade and 133 with low grade, including 10 patients at stageI, 39 at stage II, 68 at stage III and 201 at stage IV.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The rates of lymph node metastasis, distant metastasis and second primary carcinoma were 72.3%, 13.2% and 7.9%, respectively. Of 318 patients, 117 received radiotherapy alone, 66 underwent surgery plus postoperative radiotherapy, 59 underwent preoperative radiotherapy plus surgery, 33 received concomitant chemotherapy and radiotherapy, 20 received concomitant molecular targeted therapy and radiotherapy, 16 underwent surgery alone and 7 received induction chemotherapy plus radiotherapy. The 3-, 5-year overall survival (OS) rates were 58.4%, 50.7%, respectively, and the median overall survival time was 60.1 months. Ages (P = 0.034), gender(P = 0.024), smoking and alcohol consumptions(P = 0.008), doses of radiotherapy(P = 0.046) and clinic stages(P = 0.001) were independent factors for OS.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  OSCC is poor in prognosis, with a high incidence of cervical lymph node metastasis. Radiotherapy and salvage surgery are the main treatments for OSCC.
authors.affiliation: Department of Head and Neck Surgery, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yong-xia
authors.initials: YX
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Bin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Li
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gao
authors.forename: Zhen-gang
authors.initials: ZG
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Ping-zhang
authors.initials: PZ
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008198:Lymph Nodes; D008207:Lymphatic Metastasis / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D009959:Oropharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D016896:Treatment Outcome