APPLICATION OF CO₂ LASER TO THE TREATMENT OF PATIENTS WITH LARYNGEAL CANCER AND THEIR POST-TREATMENT PHONATORY FUNCTION

Abstract

The authors applied CO₂ laser to treating fifteen patients with laryngeal cancer. They were classified into three groups.
Group I . Five patients were treated with laser alone. Four of them were T1a cases and another was T1b. All of them are alive with no evidence of recurrence.
Group II . Six patients were irradiated after removal of major lesion by laser surgery. Radiation of 40 Gy was given to four Tia cases. One patient died of distant metastasis to the lung. Another underwent unilateral radical neck dissection because of metastasis to the cervical lymph nodes. The other two of this group were given 60 Gy irradiation uneventfully.
Group III. Laser surgery was utilized to four patients after radiation therapy in whom more radical surgery was not attempted due to poor general condition. One died of local recurrence and another is alive with recurrence. The other two are alive with no evidence of recurrence.
Phonatory function after laser surgery was examined in nine cases with glottic cancer. Aerodynamic studies revealed nearly normal air flow rate and AC/DC ratio during phonation. Acoustic analysis showed slightly more marked pitch perturbations in these cases than in the T1a cases treated only with irradiation. Yet they retained sufficient phonatory function for their social activities.