treated 423 firsttime cases of head and neck cancer from 1974 to 1978. Forty -five of the patients died of cancer within a year of their initial visit to the tumor clinic. Early death was classified according to the pathological cause. The most frequent cause of death was squamous cell carcinoma, which developed: in the ear (2 cases out of 4 died within a year), in the nasal cavity (the single case died), and in the neck (1 of 5 died). Malignant lymphoma was the second most frequent cause of

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... th. The period from the onset of the cancer to the initiation of treatment was less than 5 months in 31 out of the 45 early death cases. Delayed initiation of treatment after the onset of cancer did not seem to be related to early death. Development of the original focus of cancer was the direct cause of death in 25 cases. Sixteen other cases showed metastasis of cancer to remote sites. The stage of development of cancer was examined. In carcinosis, 20 out of 30 cases were at stage IV, and in malignant lymphoma, 3 cases were at stage 11 , 3 cases at III and 2 cases at IV.