Laser Surgery for T1 and rT1 Glottic Cancer

Abstract

Early glottic cancer is usu-ally treated with radiotherapy. In addition, surgery involving laser microsurgery is reported to be almost equally effective in treating the disease. Laser microsurgery can also be applicable for selected recurrent glottic cancer after radiotherapy or initial laser surgery. Only one in sixteen patients treated with laser microsurgery for untreated T1aN0M0 glottic cancer had a recurrence during the follow-up period, whereas three out of eight patients with rT1N0M0 glottic cancer had a further recurrence. Evaluation of postoperative voice with the visual analog scale (VAS), the voice-related quality of life questionnaire (V-RQOL), and the voice handicap index-10 questionnaire (VHI-10) demonstrated comparable satisfaction between untreated cases and rT1 cases. These results suggest that laser microsurgery can be considerable for selected recurrent T1 glottic cancer.