BACKGROUND: To evaluate the salvage treatment after local recurrence of upper aerodigestive tract squamous cell carcinoma in surgically treated patients. METHODS: The charts of 943 patients who underwent primary tumor ressection and neck dissection between 1977 and 1996 were reviwed, and 107 patients with local recurrence were selected. Clinical presentation and disease control rates were evaluated. RESULTS: Pain was the main symptom in recurrent disease. Salvage treatment was performed in 45% of patients and the extension of disease was the main cause not to perform this therapy. Salvage was performed in 54% of rT1T2 and in 31% of rT3T4 patients (p = 0.04). Only four (8%) salvaged patients were alive and disease-free more than 12 months after retreatment, all of them had a surgical salvage. The median time between initial surgery and local recurrence was eight months. New recurrences developed after a median of five months. CONCLUSION: Local recurrence after surgical treatment of advanced disease has a poor prognosis even in salvageable patients.
Neoplasm recurrence, local; Head and neck neoplasms; Carcionma, squamous cells
