Pathologie der malignen kopf-hals-tumoren. Epidemiologie und histologische subtypen

Context. Tumors of the head and neck form a heterogeneous group of benign and malignant neoplasms that includes carcinomas, sarcomas and a variety of lymphomas. The somewhat confusing variety of these neoplasms requires profound knowledge of location- specific human tumor pathology to select of optimal treatment strategies for head and neck cancer patients.Objective. This article gives a comprehensive overview on the epidemiology and histology of tumors in the head and neck region with an emphasis on location-specific tumor entities.Material and methods. Relevant literature on the histology and epidemiology of head and neck cancers was screened with an emphasis on current World Health Organization (WHO) recommendations. Literature data was supplemented with up date epidemiological data for Germany from the Robert-Koch Institute.Results. With respect to frequency and clinical importance, squamous cell carcinoma of the laryngopharyngeal region and oral cavity is clearly the most prominent malignant tumor in this anatomical region. Salivary gland neoplasms, although less frequent, constitute a second important pathologically and clinically complex group of tumors at this location. These two large tumor families are complemented by a distinct group of neoplasms which typically manifest in the head and neck region, such as nasopharyngeal carcinoma, olfactory neuroblastoma, NK/T-cell lymphoma of nasal type and by a variety of lymphomas and sarcomas which are morphologically indistinguishable from their counterparts elsewhere in the body. This article gives a comprehensive overview on the landscape of neoplasms in the head and neck region.Conclusion. Knowledge on the histology and epidemiology of tumors in the head and neck region forms the basis for a profound differential diagnosis and therapeutic decision making and therefore constitutes the basis of oncological treatment strategies for patients with head and neck neoplasms.