CARCINOMA OF THE LARYNX

Abstract
Two hundred and thirteen patients with carcinoma of the larynx were treated with the Stanford 4.8 mev. medical linear accelerator between 1957 and 1970. Included were 67 patients with supraglottic tumors and 146 with involvement of glottic structures. The 78 patients with carcinoma limited to a single true vocal cord had a 5 year actuarial survival of 90 per cent, with 4 of 5 radiation failures being salvaged by laryngectomy. There was only 1 tumor-related death in the 99 patients with T1 and T2 glottic lesions. Local tumor control was achieved in approximately one-half of the patients with supraglottic tumors treated initially by irradiation alone, while surgery after irradiation failure resulted in local control in 12 of 15 patients with resectable lesions. An additional 4 patients with planned preoperative irradiation were also controlled locally and are alive without evidence of disease. These cases are also analyzed according to presenting symptoms, complications, sites of metastases, quality of postirradiation voice, and results of concomitant cervical lymph node radiotherapy. Complications, recurrences and local control are also compared using the Nominal Standard Dose (NSD) concept.