[Improved prognosis of malignant oropharynx tumors by preoperative therapy (author's transl)].

Reference is made on 142 malignant tumours of the tongue and tonsils inclusively, separated in two groups. Group A consists of 46 patients treated with sandwich X-ray therapy and radically operated in between. Group B resembles 96 patients subjected post operatively to a noninterrupted radiotherapy course. The 5 years minimal survival rate (MSR) of all tumourpatients is only 12 per cent due to the high amount of T3 stages with mostly fixed unilateral and sometimes contralateral metastase in the regional lymphnodes. If one, however, opposes the MSR of A and B, there is a significant meliorated prognosis for patients, who have been operated in connection with a systematically applied X-ray therapy according to the sandwich method.