CO 2 Laser Surgery in Laryngeal Cancers: Three Year Results

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the relapse-free survival and the overall survival at three years of 39 laryngeal cancers (10 T₁ and 29 small recurrent carcinomas with mobile vocal cord) operated on by CO₂ laser surgery at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori in Milan from 1982 to 1987. The 10 patients with T₁ cancers had two local recurrences, whereas the 29 patients with recurrent carcinomas had 14 local recurrences. Local relapses occurred in 2/16 patients with cancer limited to the vocal cord and in 9/17 patients with glottic tumors extended to the anterior commissure or to the ventricular band or to the arytenoid. Supraglottic cancers recurred in 3/4 patients. The authors conclude that transoral laser surgery is an effective modality for treatment of T₁ primary and small recurrent carcinomas of the larynx, when limited to the middle third of the vocal cord.