Prognostic influence of retropharyngeal lymph node metastasis in squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx

To investigate the impact of involvement of retropharyngeal lymph nodes on the prognosis of squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx.The pretreatment computed tomographic scans of 208 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the oropharynx were reviewed for the presence of metastatic retropharyngeal lymph nodes. All patients were treated at the Leuven department between 1984 and 2003: by radiotherapy alone in 84.1% of patients, by surgery with...