[The significance of psychological factors in the early diagnosis of laryngeal and hypopharyngeal tumors].

The clinical course of malignant disease is influenced by the patient's personality and his attitude to disease and to treatment. The authors interviewed 150 patients scheduled to undergo microlaryngoscopy, indicated to identify pathologic aberrations of the larynx and pharynx. - Analysis of the data showed that fear of cancer was less common in patients found to have a carcinoma than in those with benign aberrations. Patients with cancer were more inclined to postpone medical examination and showed a significantly greater degree of denial of their symptoms. A positive family history of malignant disease was significantly more frequent in patients who had marked fear of cancer than in those who did not have such fears. Female patients fearing cancer had a significantly greater frequency of neurotic symptoms, compared to females who had no fear. For nearly a half of smokers (45%) the proposed microlaryngoscopy provided a motive to give up smoking.