[Efficiency of radiation therapy in the treatment of epipharyngeal tumors (author's transl)].

The radiotherapeutic results of 38 patients with malignant tumours of the epipharynx are analyzed. Only five patients had T1 and T2 lesions, while all the others suffered from more advanced tumours. Five patients revealed distant metastases at the beginning of palliative radiotherapy. For this reason, the 5-year survival rate was only 16%. Conversely, a local tumour control was achieved in more than two thirds of the patients (27/38). This result gives support to the suggestion that radiotherapy, either in combination with surgery or without it, is to be considered at this time as the most effective method of treatment for malignant tumours of the epipharynx.