Abstract
Background: Organ preservation therapy including concurrent chemoradiotherapy is widely used to improve survival and maintain organ function for laryngeal cancer, and partial laryngectomy is usually used for the salvage operation after radiotherapy.
Objective: To evaluate the usefulness of vertical partial laryngectomy by analyzing the laryngeal preservation rate and postoperative laryngeal function.
Materials and Methods: Five patients underwent vertical partial laryngectomy for laryngeal cancer; four patients had not been treated previously, and one patient had previously received radiotherapy. All patients were male, with an average age of 57.2 years (range 48–62). Mean follow-up period was 64.6 months (range 34–87).
Results: The frontolateral resection was performed with an endoscope by cutting the anterior part of the larynx, and a sternohyoid muscle flap with hyoid bone was used for the reconstruction of cricoid cartilage. The organ preservation rate was 4/5 (80%), and locoregional control was achieved in all cases. Maximum phonation time was 14–24 seconds and pneumonia due to mis-swallowing was not seen in any of the cases, and the postoperative laryngeal function was not severely disturbed.
Conclusion: Postoperative laryngeal function in the case of vertical partial laryngectomy was not greatly diminished compared to chemoradiation therapy. Vertical partial laryngectomy may be one option in the initial treatment for cases in which the laryngeal cancer seems to be resistant to radiation therapy as well as for failure cases after radiation therapy.
