RESUMO
Medical reports of 1293 patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the head and neck were retrospectively evaluated. The patients were classified according to their age, sex, primary tumour localization and tumoral stage. There were 1181 males (91.3 per cent) and 112 females (8.7 per cent), with a male to female ratio of 10.5:1. The peak incidences for all primary tumour localizations were observed in the fifth decade. Most common primary tumour localizations were the larynx (71.1 per cent), the nasopharynx (10.1 per cent) and the oral cavity (8.8 per cent). Of all patients in whom staging was complete, 43.1 per cent presented at early and 56.9 per cent at advanced stages. The proportion of patients presenting with metastatic neck nodes was 34.4 per cent and the incidence of metastatic neck nodes increased with increasing T stage. The supraglottic region was the most common primary site among all laryngeal SCC, with a supraglottic to glottic SCC ratio of 1.5:1. Glottic SCC presented at earlier stages compared to supraglottic SCC. The incidence of nodal metastases increased with increasing T stage for SCC of the larynx, the oral cavity and the oropharynx.