Outcome of transoral laser microsurgery for T2-T3 tumors growing in the laryngeal anterior commissure.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the outcomes of transoral laser microsurgery (TLM) in the treatment of T2 to T3 laryngeal carcinomas growing in the laryngeal anterior commissure. METHODS: This study was a retrospective analysis of 107 patients. Overall survival, disease-specific survival, and laryngectomy-free survival were analyzed. Technical difficulties, postoperative complications, influence of the learning curve, and the number of surgeries were evaluated. RESULTS: Five-year overall survival, disease-specific survival, and laryngectomy-free survival were 71%, 79.5%, and 71.4%, respectively. The probability of tumor relapse was related to the status of the margins (p = .01) and to surgical experience (p = .02), but not to tumor exposure (p = .78) or pT category (p = .36). Disease-specific survival differed significantly between the group of patients treated in the early period of surgical experience and those treated in the advanced period of surgical experience (71% vs 94%; p = .02) CONCLUSION: TLM is a useful treatment for T2 to T3 laryngeal carcinomas growing in the laryngeal anterior commissure when it is performed under an advanced learning curve.