Abstract： Objective To examine the relationship between HIF-1αt and VEGF expression and the clinicopathological characteristics in hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma. Methods The expression status of HIF-1α and VEGF were examined by immunohistochemistric method (IHC) in 62 tumor tissue and 19 paracancerous normal tissue. The relationships between the expression of HIF-1α and VEGF and clinicopathological characteristic were analyzed. Results HIF-1αt and VEGF expression were higher in hypopharyngeal carcinoma tissues than those in paracancerous normal tissues (66. 1％:26. 3％ ;x2 =18. 02,P ＜0. 05 ;67. 7％ : 31.6％ ; x2 =19.22, P ＜ 0. 05 ). The expression intensity of HIF-1 α was related to T stage, N stage and TNM stage ( x2 =4. 23,5.83,9.94,all P ＜0. 05). The expression intensity of VEGF was related to metastasis, T stage, N stage and TNM stage (x2 =5.62,7. 38,15.75,4. 29 ,all P ＜0. 05 ). There was minus relationship between overall survival and expression level of HIF-1 α and/or VEGF (x2 =29. 25, P＜0.01; x2 =24.88, P＜ 0.01 ). On multivariate analysis, HIF-1α expression and T stage were independent prognostic factors for overall survival (x2 =4.80,5.74, all P＜0. 05). Conclusions HIF-1α and VEGF may be considered as a parameter in evaluation of progression, metastasis and prognosis of hypopharyngeal carcinoma and also may be a direction of molecular target therapy.