Conservation surgery in the management of T1 and T2 oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma: the Birmingham UK experience.

The aim of this paper was to evaluate our experience using conservation surgery in the management of T1 and T2 oropharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Eighteen patients underwent conservation surgery between 1993 and 2000 and were analysed retrospectively. The mean age was 54 years and the male to female ratio was 8:1. There were 14 tonsil and 4 tongue base tumours and 83% of cases presented with neck nodes, thereby classifying them as having advanced disease (stages 2-4). All patients received postoperative radiotherapy. All patients were followed up to December 2001. The median follow-up time was 3.8 years (minimum was 1.5 years). The 2-year and 5-year survival rates were 100% and 92% respectively. Approximately 66% of patients returned the EORTC and GHQ/12 quality-of-life questionnaires. Of these, seventy-five percent had a high healthy level of general functioning in accordance with the EORTC general health section. These results show that conservation surgery techniques are effective in the treatment of T1 and T2 oropharyngeal squamous carcinoma associated with significant metastatic neck disease. The techniques are well tolerated, produce minimal functional deficit and do not have a negative impact on the patients quality of life in either the immediate postoperative period or up to 4 years post-treatment.