Clinical and Epidemiological Aspects of Head and Neck Cancer Patients in a Brazilian North-Eastern Oncology Hospital: A Retrospective Study

The purpose of this study is to describe the head and neck cancer patients who are receiving treatment at an oncology facility in a state in northeastern Brazil. Fisher's Exact test was used to analyze the data, which were taken from medical records, tabulated, and statistically analyzed to see whether the factors and the disease result (death or remission) were related. P < 0.05 values were regarded as statistically significant. 74.4% of the 86 medical records that were examined were male, 89% of them were over 40, and 38.4% of them involved smoking. The tongue was the most common anatomical site of cancer (36%). Surgery was the most often used treatment approach (44.2%). A poorer prognosis was linked to the existence of distant metastases (p = 0.041). Compared to individuals with cancer in the oral cavity and maxillary sinus, those with cancer in the nasopharynx, larynx, and oropharynx had a better prognosis (p=0.002). Men of mixed ethnicity, over 40, and mostly with tongue lesions made up the patient profile. Most patients had advanced clinical stages at diagnosis, and 47.7% of the sample perished.