Squamous cell carcinoma of the uvula: an analysis of factors affecting survival.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: Uvular squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is usually considered with soft palate tumors as an oropharyngeal cancer subsite. This investigation aims to determine whether the uvula itself is a high-risk subsite in the oropharynx for primary squamous cell carcinomas.

STUDY

DESIGN

Retrospective analysis of a large population database.

METHODS

Using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database, we identified patients with T1 and T2 SCC of the oropharynx. Patients were categorized into two groups based on primary site: 1) uvula; and 2) oropharynx not otherwise specified. Clinicopathologic characteristics and disease-specific survival (DSS) were compared between the two groups.

RESULTS

Of the 9,833 patients we identified, 129 (1.3%) had primary uvular tumors. Primary tumors of the uvula were more likely to be smaller lesions at diagnosis (P < .001) and to present at a lower anatomical stage (P < .001). They also presented with less concurrent nodal metastasis (P < .001) and lower histological grade (P < .001). There was no evidence that size of uvular SCC lesion had any effect on nodal disease (P = .54), and survival was the same for T1 and T2 uvular SCC patients (P = .14). DSS was similar between the two groups as well (P = .7629).

CONCLUSIONS

Our data indicate that primary SCC of the uvula does not have a worse prognosis, and tends to be recognized earlier and treated more definitively than SCC found in other oropharyngeal regions. However, survival being equivalent between two distinctive groups is perplexing, and may indicate an underlying aggressiveness to uvular cancers.