LARYNGOFISSURE FOR CANCER OF THE LARYNX: OBSERVATIONS BASED ON A SERIES OF FIFTY CONSECUTIVE CASES

Abstract

"Laryngofissure" means simply splitting of the larynx, and for this reason some object to the application of the term to the operation for removal of a part of the larynx when it is affected by cancer in an early stage. Martin,¹ for example, prefers to call all such operations "partial laryngectomies." Another objection to the former term is that the word implies splitting of the whole larynx, and for this reason the term "thyrotomy" has been used. The objection to the latter term, that it could be taken to refer to the thyroid gland, led to the use of "thyrochondrotomy." "Laryngotomy" was the term used by Desault in 1812, when he first described the operation. Throughout this paper, as in Moore's excellent monograph,² "laryngofissure" is used "in its old comprehensive sense as including both the longer and the shorter incisions. Whereas Desault (1812) had suggested this operation for the removal