Clinical characteristics of patients with epidermoid carcinoma of the upper aerodigestive tract who develop second malignant tumors.

Overview

A total of 1294 patients with primary head and neck (H&N) cancer of a single site was diagnosed during the years 1970 to 1979 at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 163 subsequently developed a second malignant tumor (SMT). In 50% of the cases, the second tumor was in the H&N, and in 30% in the lung and esophagus; 41 patients developed a third tumor. Again, in 50% of these cases, the tumor was in the H&N and in 17% in the lung and esophagus. The stage of disease of all the second primary tumors was more advanced at diagnosis, mainly as a result of the large number of patients with lung and esophagus cancer. Patients who had a second tumor in the H&N were diagnosed in an earlier stage of disease than patients with a single H&N tumor. The survival of patients with localized second H&N cancer was worse than for those with a primary, localized single tumor.