Treatment Results of Laryngeal Cancer by Radiotherapy with or Without Surgery

Purpose: To evaluate the therapeutic results of laryngeal cancer patients treated at Department of Radiation Oncology of NTUII over the past ten years (1981-1990).Materials & Methods: One hundred and thirty-three laryngeal cancer patients treated at our clinic were analyzed clinically. All of them were squamous cell carcinoma. The age of the patients ranged from 34 to 84 years old with the highest incidence at the 60-69 age group. There were 128 male patients and 5 female patients with male to female ratio as 26:1. The numbers of patients in stage I to IV were 25, 21, 22, and 65, respectively. Stage IV patients accounted for about half of the cases. The numbers of supraglottic, glottic, and subglottic cancers were 51, 72, and 10, respectively. Glottic type accounted for more than half of the cases. Fifty-seven patients received primary radiotherapy. The other 76 patients received surgery before radiotherapy.Results: The overall actuarial five-year survival rate was 54.7%. The actuarial five-year survival rates for patients of stages Ⅰ, Ⅱ,Ⅲ and Ⅳ were 78.7%, 58.3%, 54%, and 44.4%, respectively. The five-year survival rates for supraglottic, glottic and subglottic cancers were 34.7%, 70.5%, and 38.9%, respectively.Conclusion: Recurrence after radiotherapy was salvaged by surgery satisfactorily in stages I and II, but the prognosis was poor for recurrent patients with initial stages III and IV. A life-long follow-up after radical radiotherapy is essential for early detection of recurrence and earlier salvage to improve the therapeutic result.