Trends in epidemiology and treatment and outcome for head and neck cancer: a population-based long-term analysis from 1996 to 2011 of the Thuringian cancer registry.

Introduction: The objective of this study was to examine patterns of care and survival in a population-based sample of patients with head neck cancer (HNC) who were treated in Thuringia, a federal state in Germany, between 1996 and 2011.

Methods: Data of 6291 patients with primary HNC from the Thuringian cancer registry were used to evaluate for patient's characteristics, tumor stage, incidence, and trends in treatment and overall survival (OS).

Results: The distribution between stages I-IV did not change significantly during the observation period.