ABSTRACT
The prognosis of patients with head and neck cancer depends mainly on multiple tumorrelated characteristics and treatment variables. The current staging classification is based only on the premise that malignant tumors of the same histology located in the same anatomic site have similar patterns of invasion, risk of metastasis, and prognosis when the data are stratified in TNM categories.There is a virtual consensus in the literature that tumor site and stage are the main prognostic factors, and in the current clinical practice, therapeutic decisions are usually based on the site, histology, anatomic TNM extension of the disease, and institutional experience. However, there is an increasing awareness that clinical characteristics of the patients,mainly the severity of symptoms and medical comorbidities, are important for therapeutic planning and for the prognosis1.
