Multiple malignancies in patients with head and neck cancer

Multiple malignancies occurred in 7.5 per cent of 1,919 patients with head and neck cancer. In 64 per cent of patients the two cancers were diagnosed within twenty-four months of each other. Multiple malignancies occurred most frequently in patients with head and neck skin cancer. The most commonly encountered additional malignancy was another cancer of the head and neck. The three year survival of patients after treatment of a second primary malignancy was 21 per cent and the five year survival 9 per cent.