Interventions: Radiotherapy alone or with chemotherapy. Main Outcome Measures: Disease-free survival, overall survival, and treatment response. Results: Most tumors were located at the tonsil (46.8%) or base of the tongue (28.0%) and were at clinical stage III or IV (92.8%). Treatment response was associated with Zubrod scale score, weight loss, number of comorbidities, symptom-severity and Piccirillo stages, hemoglobin level, tumor site, macroscopic appearance of the tumor, and clinical stage. The 5-year overall survival rate was 17.6% and disease-free survival rate was 16.2%. The significant prognostic variables were age; Zubrod scale score; weight loss; comorbidities; Berg, Piccirillo, and symptom-severity staging; involvement of adjacent softtissue areas and bone; lymph node mobility; clinical stage; and radiotherapy doses. The multivariate analysis showed Zubrod scale score, symptom-severity staging system, Berg staging system, comorbidities, and radiotherapy dose as independent prognostic factors. Conclusion: A combination of clinical factors, such as symptoms, patients' general status, weight loss, and comorbidities, leads to a relevant stage of clinical severity that can be associated with the TNM stage as predictors of survival in oropharyngeal carcinoma.

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RESUMO -As doenças cerebrovasculares em pacientes entre 15 e 40 anos são pouco estudadas na literatura latino americana, principalmente no que tange aos achados neuropatológicos. Analisamos 47 encéfalos provenientes de necrópsias completas realizadas no período de 1987 a 1997 selecionados com base na faixa etária e alteração neuropatológica básica envolvendo fenômenos vasculares. Destes 47 casos analisados, 26 eram (55,3%) do sexo feminino. Quanto à distribuição etária, 12,8% (n=06) acometeram pacientes entre 15 e 20 anos, 51,1% (n=24) entre 21 e 30 anos, 36,2% (n=17) entre 31 e 40 anos. As doenças básicas que culminaram no óbito foram agrupadas, sendo mais frequentes as doenças cardíacas e hematológicas (19,2%), alterações decorrentes de complicações de gestação (12,8%), doenças infecciosas, doenças dos vasos sanguíneos e doenças neurológicas (10,7%) entre outras. As alterações neuropatológicas incluíram hérnia cerebral e/ou cerebelar (16%), edema cerebral (13,8%), hemorragia subaracnóidea (10%), infarto cerebral recente (9%), hemorragia intraparequimatosa (8%), encefalopatia hipóxico-isquêmica (3%) e eventos menos comuns como a síndrome de Sneddon e vasculite lúpica. Tais achados expressam que os fenômenos cerebrovasculares têm, nesta faixa etária, perfil próprio com estreita relação com a doença de base. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: doenças cerebrovasculares, neuropatologia, jovens. Cerebrovascular diseases in patients aged 15 to 40 years: neuropathological findings in 47 casesABSTRACT -Cerebrovascular diseases in patients between 15 and 40 years old are not a frequent subject in Latin-American literature, especially when focusing on neuropathology. We analyzed 47 brains from necropsies performed from 1987 to 1997 and selected on a basis of age and the presence of vascular pathology. From the 47 analyzed brains, 26 belonged to females (55.3%). When distributed among age groups, 12.8% (n=6) affected patients from 15 to 20 yo, 51,1% (n=24) from 21 to 30 yo, 36,2% (n=17) from 31 to 40 yo. The underlying diseases were: cardiac and haemathologic (19.2%), pregnancy complications (12.76%), infections, diseases of blood vessels and neurological (10.1% each) amongst others. The neuropathological abnormalities included cerebral and/or cerebellar herniation (16%), cerebral edema (13.8%), subarachnoid hemorrhage (10%), recent cerebral infarction (9%), intraparenchymatous hemorrhage (8.14%), hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (3%) and other events such as Sneddon syndrome and Lupus vasculitis. These findings express that the cerebrovascular phenomena in this age group are unique and closely related with the underlying disease.KEY WORDS: cerebrovascular diseases, neuropathology, youth. Fenômenos cerebrovasculares em pacientes jovens vêm, gradativamente, recebendo atenção dos pesquisadores, em virtude de seus mecanismos etiopatogênicos serem distintos em relação à contraparte nos idosos [1][2][3][4] . Quando presentes, estes fenômenos mostram íntima correlação com a doença básica principal do paciente, a qual culminou no óbito 5-7 .Apresen...