[Biological characteristics and prognosis of supraglottic carcinoma--a multivariate correlation analysis of prognosis].

The biological characteristics of supraglottic carcinoma was studied with special reference to the correlations of various biological factors with the prognosis of the lesion. The study included 100 cases of supraglottic carcinoma treated by total laryngectomy in the First Hospital of China Medical University in the period from 1975 to 1978, and 7 factors including histopathological findings observed in serial sections of the whole larynx, clinical findings, clinical course, etc. These factors were statistically analyzed by multiple correlation analysis using the theory of quantification I to determine the relations of these factors to the prognosis, as well as their participations in post operative course. 1. Twenty-seven cases died within 5 years after surgery, and 4 cases could not be followed up. 3 and 5-year survival rates were 79.5% and 72.2%, respectively, as calculated in accordance with the UICC General Rule. 2. Histopathologically 5-year survival rate was 10.0% in cases with poorly differentiated carcinoma, 78.0% in cases with moderately differentiated type, and 83.5% in cases with well-differentiated type. It was remarkably lower in poorly differentiated carcinoma than that in moderately or well-differentiated carcinoma. 3. In cases having dense lymphocyte infiltration associated with lymph follicles in peripheral region of tumor, 5-year survival rate was higher (90.4%) than in the other cases. 4. It was found that, as tumor size increased, 5-year survival rate decreased and the risk of lymph node involvement increased in the neck region. 5. 5-year survival rate was lower (48.5%) in cases with lesion infiltrating the surrounding tissues than in cases with other growth patterns. 6. Multiple correlation coefficient between prognosis and the 7 factors analyzed was 0.766. The important factors were the degree of differentiation (0.735), the degree of lymphocyte infiltration (0.260), the size of primary tumor (0.215), the growth pattern of tumor (0.141) and neck metastasis (0.028).