[Cancer of the cervical esophagus with extension to hypopharynx: its behavior and treatment].

Five year survival rate of 168 cases of cancer in the cervical esophagus with extension to the hypopharynx, which had been treated in ENT department of Keio University during the past 13 years, was shown to be as low as 28%. Factors responsible for this poor result were delineated from standpoints such as local recurrence, node metastasis, distant metastasis, skip lesions, double lesions and so on. Preoperative combination of chemo-radiotherapy was evaluated histopathologically, and the results indicated that macroscopic reduction of tumor in the cavity does not always correspond with histologic improvement. The author stressed the demerit of preoperative radiotherapy and proposed a trial of induction chemotherapy, radical excision with primary reconstruction and postoperative combination of immuno-chemo-radio-therapy.