Introduction: Oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) is a highly prevalent malignancy worldwideaffecting the tonsils, the soft palette and the base of the tongue. OPC has a high risk ofrecurrence. Patients are offered a 5-year follow-up program in order to discover earlyrecurrences. However, there exists some controversy regarding the benefit of this follow-up indetecting early recurrences. Objective: The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether recurrences of OPC weredetected in patient-initiated appointments or during routine follow-up. The secondary aim wasto compare the survival between these groups. Method and materials: This study is a retrospective cohort study regarding recurrencedetection among patients diagnosed with OPC. The Örebro Head- and neck cancer registerwas used to identify patients with recurrence of OPC. Additional data was collected frommedical records. Results: A total of 75 patients were included. Routine follow-up detected 50.7% ofrecurrences while patient-initiated visits detected 42.7% of recurrences. No statisticallysignificant difference was found in survival between these groups Conclusion: In contradiction to our hypothesis most of the recurrences were detected atroutine follow-up. There was no statistically significant difference in survival between thetwo ways of detection. These results indicate that our current follow-up program has animportance in detecting early recurrences and should not be altered.