RADIATION THERAPY OF CARCINOMA OF THE TONSILLAR REGION

One hundred and two patients with a diagnosis of squamous cell carcinoma of the tonsillar region received complete Co⁶⁰ radiation treatment at the Alice Crocker Lloyd Radiation Therapy Center of the University of Michigan from the years 1955 through 1963. The absolute 5 year survival was 32.4 per cent, counting as if dead of the disease 1 patient who was alive with disease at 5 years and 1 who had recurrence of the primary lesion later cured by surgery. The determinate 5 year survival was 39.8 per cent.

The prognosis decreased as the primary lesion became larger or if there was regional metastasis. The degree of control of the primary lesion by irradiation was high in the T₁ and T₂ cases (80 per cent and 76.6 per cent, respectively). In larger lesions the local control decreased. The neck lymphadenopathy was less amenable to control by irradiation than the primary lesion; only one-fourth of the patients with initial lymphadenopathy were controlled with radiation therapy.

The findings in this study lend support to the use of radiation therapy as the initial form of treatment of carcinoma of the tonsillar region.

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