[Is cryosurgical treatment of malignant tumors of the oropharynx useful? (author's transl)].

32 patients with malignant tumors of the oropharynx were treated by cryosurgery from 1973 to 1980. The majority of cases were inoperable patients (due to poor general condition) or inoperable tumors. Cryosurgery was applied nearly exclusively in combination with radiotherapy, often also combined with conventional surgical procedures. Even though the results are difficult to interpret owing to this combination of different forms of therapy, it becomes apparent that cryosurgery was unable to improve the prognosis of carcinomas of the oropharynx and that application of cryosurgery to these tumors is of doubtful palliative value.