Symptoms of laryngeal carcinoma and their prognostic significance

Symptoms of 301 patients with laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma were evaluated. Tumour site affected the symptom profile significantly. Hoarseness was more common among patients with glottic and subglottic tumours, but was also the leading symptom in supraglottic patients. Other symptoms were mainly associated with supraglottic tumours and more advanced glottic lesions. There was a positive correlation between the number of symptoms and stage, regardless of tumour site. Patients with a supraglottic tumour had significantly more symptoms (median 2) than those with a glottic lesion (median 1). The median duration of the symptoms was significantly longer in stages III-IV (4.7 months) than in stages I-II (3.8 months). In the multivariate analysis, tumour stage was the only variable showing prognostic significance.