Clinical-Severity Staging System for Oropharyngeal Cancer: Five-Year Survival Rates

Abstract

Survival estimates can be improved by adding carefully studied and suitably defined patient variables to the TNM cancer stage. The current TNM cancer staging system for oropharyngeal cancer is based solely on the morphologic description of the tumor and disregards the clinical condition of the patient. Cancer symptom severity and comorbidity have a significant impact on survival. Continued exclusion of patient factors leads to imprecision in prognostic estimates and hinders interpretation of clinical studies.