Affiliation:
1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Medical University of Vienna Vienna Austria
2. Institute of Head and Neck Diseases Evangelical Hospital Vienna Austria
Abstract
AbstractBackgroundThe study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of routine follow‐up in detecting recurrent disease in hypopharyngeal carcinoma.MethodsData from 76 patients with a total of 620 follow‐up visits, 367 radiological studies, and 126 panendoscopies were retrospectively assessed regarding the diagnosis of recurrent disease based on the results of (I) radiological studies, (II) clinical examinations, and (III) clinical symptoms.ResultsAll locally relapsed patients became symptomatic, and new onset of dysphagia (p < 0.001) was the most frequent complaint. The sensitivity for detecting local recurrences was 100% for both patients' symptom assessments and clinical examinations. The highest overall accuracy was found for clinical examinations (93.4%), followed by symptom assessments (80.5%), and radiological studies (73.8%). The risk of false positive radiological reports and subsequent panendoscopies was 2.2 times higher after previous radiotherapy (32.0% vs. 14.6%; p < 0.001).ConclusionSymptom assessments and clinical examinations are highly efficient for detection of local failures.