Abstract

INTRODUCTION

The treatment of locally advanced laryngeal cancer (LALC) is very challenging. In the last few decades there has been a shift from total laryngectomy towards organ-sparing approaches. The aim of the current study is to compare oncological outcomes between surgery (total laryngectomy) followed by radiotherapy and larynx preservation with chemoradiotherapy (CRT).

METHODS

114 patients with stage III-Iva-b laryngeal cancer were included in the study, between 2009 and 2018. Thirty-six patients (31.6%) were performed total laryngectomy followed by radiotherapy and 78 (68.4%) underwent the larynx preservation approach. Survival differences between the groups were examined with the Kaplan-Meier test and cox-regression tests for factors affecting survival.

RESULTS

5-year overall survival (OS) was found 66.3 months and 74.1 months, in the larynx preservation and the surgical groups, respectively (p=0.29). There was no statistically difference between groups for OS in the patients with T3/N0-N1 (p=0.76), but surgical groups had longer OS in the patients with T3/N2-N3 (p=0.04). There was no statistically difference between groups for OS in the patients with T4/N0-N1 (p=0.47), however CRT groups had longer OS in the patients with T4/N2-N3 (p=0.02). The N2-N3 was the factor associated with poor progression-free survival and distant metastasis free survival in multivariate analysis (p<0.01). Age (≥65) was found to be associated with 2.1 times increased risk of death (p=0.01). The trans-glottis tumors were associated with a 3.6-fold increased risk of tracheostomy (p<0.01).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

The N0-N1 and N2-N3 should also be considered as well as advanced T-category for the treatment of LALC.