Carcinoma of the tonsil. A retrospective analysis of prognostic factors.

A study was designed to assess clinical and pathologic variables with prognostic value in carcinoma of the tonsil. Seventy-nine cases, diagnosed and treated at the University Hospital of Montevideo, Uruguay, during a 20-year period (1960 through 1979) were studied. Survival of patients according to sex, age, performance status, tumor size (T), nodal status (N), clinical stage, tongue involvement, histologic type, grade of differentiation, and local control with treatment was analyzed with the life-table method and the statistical significance was estimated with the logrank test. Regression methods showed that the combination of T and N factors explained 25% of the prognosis. When local control was included in the equation, the predictive power increased to 52%. Local spread to the base of the tongue and female sex were of marginal significance regarding prognosis.