Oral and oropharyngeal carcinoma: surgical treatment in irradiated and nonirradiated patients.

Surgical treatment was used in 45 cases of oral cavity carcinoma and in 23 cases of oropharyngeal carcinoma. The three-year cure rate was 47% for oral cavity tumors and 9% for orophayngeal lesions. The cure rate was substantially higher in female patients than in males and in white patients than in nonwhites. Results of composite resections in 23 previously irradiated patients and 23 nonirradiated patients with T-2 and T-3 lesions are compared. The irradiated patients with oral cavity carcinoma had a lower cure rate and a much greater incidence of postoperative morbidity than the patients treated with operation alone. Surgical results for oropharyngeal carcinomas were poor in both radiated and nonirradiated patients, although the incidence of postoperative morbidity and mortality was higher in the irradiated group.