Abstract
Objective: Authors report their experience (1987-2010) with transoral CO2 laser surgery of early glottic and supraglottic cancer. A total of 375 laser cordectomies were performed in 324 patients with Tis-T2 vocal cord tumors, and 63 patients with T1, T2 supraglottic tumour underwent transoral supraglottic laser resection.
Method: Laser cordectomy of Tis (21), T1a (179), T1b (57), and T2-3 (32) tumors and supraglottic laser resection of 40 epiglottis (36 T1, 4 T1N1), 4 vestibular fold (T1), 13 vallecula (10 T2, 3 T2N1), and 6 aryepiglottic fold (3 T2, 3 T2N1) tumors with 10 ND was evaluated.
Results: There was no recurrence after a single laser cordectomy in 87.5% of the patients (253/289 patients). Laser-specific survival is 92.7% (268/289). Five-year survival is 92.2% (214/232). “Local recurrence” was found in 36 of 289 patients (12.5%). In the supraglottic group, 47 patients are free of tumor after primary laser excision so far. Sixteen patients with local recurrence underwent salvage treatments. Late neck metastasis required 5 radical neck dissections (RND). Tumor-free survival is 75%. Survival after salvage therapy is 98%. The voice improved during the healing.
Conclusion: Transoral CO2 laser surgery of the early vocal cord and supraglottic cancer proved to be a primary treatment option with success: good oncological and acceptable functional results.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.