RESUMO
BACKGROUND: As treatment of head and neck cancer has improved, the trend showed that distant metastases(DMs) have become an increasingly common cause of death. Knowing about the presence of DMs is important for deciding treatment protocol. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to identify tumor characteristics(site of primary tumor, TNM staging, tumor differentiation) of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma related to higher incidence of DMs and determine the accuracy of blood test(alkaline phosphatase, calcium, LFT) in detection of DMs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective review was carried out on 74 patients of 134 patients admitted to department of Otolaryngology, Gyeongsang National University Hospital from January 1987 to June 1994. RESULTS: The review revealed 21 DMs in 18 patients. DMs occurred in 18(24.3%) of 74 patients. Lung(47.6%) and bone(42.9%) were common DM site. As site of primary tumor, pharynx increased the incidence of DMs more than larynx, PNS & nasal cavity and oral caity. The incidence of DMs was increased in patients who had tumors of advanced T stage, N stage, Stage(statistically significant, p<0.05) and poor histologic differentiation(statistically insignificant, p=0.11). CONCLUSION: Abnormal alkaline phosphatase and hypercalcemia showed low sensitivity(56% and 0%) for detection of bone metastases. So blood tests(alkaline phosphatase, calcium) may be not useful for screening test for bone metastases. But the sensitivity of abnormal LFT was insignificant due to only one case of liver metastases in our study.