Abstract
Out of 114 cases of cancer of the larynx primarily treated with irradiation in the Aichi Cancer Center for the past seven years and eleven months, 27 cases received surgical treatment secondarily because of residual cancer, recurrence or radiotherapy complications.
On reviewing and analysing the contributing factors to the reasons why these 27 patients required the secondary surgeries from various points of view, the most frequent causes were not only residual cancer or recurrence of tumor but necrosis, ulceration or edema of the irradiated area of the larynx.
Moreover, the authors described the preventive measures to the develpoment of pharyngeal fistula which is the most problematic among the postoperative complications.
