Eine retrospektive Autopsieanalyse von Patienten mit Malignomen der oberen Luft- und Speisewege 1968-2007

With the increasing of life expectancy the number of malignant diseases rises simultaneously. The malignant tumors of the upper aero-digestive tract are the number six of all kinds of malignancies. Within the last years great advances in medicine has been documented. Even though no improvement of the total life expectancy of patients who suffer from head and neck cancer could be noticed. From this background the radiological methods as an instrument of quality control should be discussed. Concerning this matter the autopsy represents a reverence method in medical quality control and is still one of the most important instruments of evaluating medical knowledge. Simultaneously the frequency of autopsies has been continuously decreasing in the institutes of pathology within the last three decades. In the dissertation at hand autopsies of patients who died of head and neck cancer at the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery, Philipps University of Marburg, Germany from 1968 to 2007 have been analyzed. In detail the relation between the number of autopsies of to the Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head & Neck Surgery and the total number of autopsies of all clinics of Philipps University of Marburg has been evaluated. In addition it should be determined if there is any tendency in the frequency of autopsies in general. The distribution of metastases and the most common causes of death of head and neck cancer patients should be figured out.