Background: Head and neck cancers are increasingly becoming a prominent part of oncological practice in Nigeria
owing partly to the advances made in this area of practice. Tumours of the head and neck region make up about 5-
30% of all tumours in the body and often carry a burden that impacts humans physically, socially, financially and
psychologically with a lot of challenges in their management. This study aimed at evaluating the pattern of
presentation and treatment of head and neck cancers seen in Federal Medical Centre, Owerri between January 2015
to December 2019.
Materials and methods: The study is a retrospective analysis of all head and neck cancer cases that presented to the
ENT Department of Federal Medical Centre Owerri over 5 years. Data was extracted from patients' case files and
analyzed with SPSS version 25.0.
Results: Fifty three (53) patients were analyzed with a M:F ratio of 1.3:1. Mean age of patients was 53.5±14.0 years
with mean duration of presenting complaints being 12.2±9.2months. The commonest site of cancers was the larynx
(26.4%) while the commonest histological diagnosis was Squamous cell carcinoma (54.7%). Majority of patients
(94.4%) presented with advanced disease (stages 3 and 4). CT Scan was done in 92.5% of patients and the commonest
modality of treatment was surgery (35.8%). About 24.5% of patients did not attend follow up clinics after treatment,
45.3% defaulted from follow up before 6weeks, 5.7% died within 6 weeks of treatment and 15.1% had satisfactory
outcome at 6weeks post treatment.
Conclusion: Federal Medical Centre, Owerri in recent times has treated a significant number of head and neck
cancer patients and the case profiles mirror those of similar tertiary institutions. The challenges facing the
management of these cases include late presentation, financial paucity, poor social support system and poor follow
up culture.