Transoral laser surgery for early glottic cancers.

OBJECTIVE: To demonstrate the oncologic safety of transoral endoscopic laser surgery in early glottic cancers.

PATIENTS: The study included 107 patients with early glottic cancers. The disease was in situ in 21 (19.6%) and infiltrative in 86 (80.4%), of which 52 (48.6%) were stage T1a, 17 (15.9%) were T1b, 13 (12.1%) were T2, and 4 (3.7%) were TX lesions. One hundred three patients (96.3%) were treated primarily, whereas 4 patients (3.7%) were operated on after radiotherapy failure. Anatomically, 77 lesions (72.0%) involved the anterior or middle third of the vocal cord; 14 lesions (13.1%) involved a single cord and the anterior commissure; 4 "horseshoe" lesions (3.7%) involved both cords and the anterior commissure; 7 lesions (6.5%) involved the posterior third of the cord reaching the vocal process of the arytenoid; and 5 cases (4.7%) involved both cords separately.

RESULTS: There were 17 (15.9%) local recurrences (10 among patients with single cord lesions, 5 among patients with cord and anterior commissure lesions, and 2 among patients with lesions involving both cords), and 1 regional recurrence. One hundred one patients (94.4%) were alive and disease free at a median of 40.7 months. Three patients (2.8%) were alive with disease. One patient (0.9%) died of other causes. Two patients (1.9%) died of a second primary cancer. The overall larynx preservation rate was 92.5%. Recurrence-free survival was 86.6% at 2 years, 84.1% at 5 years, and 78.1% at 10 years.

CONCLUSION: Transoral laser surgery is an oncologically safe, function-preserving modality for treatment of early glottic cancers.