[Preoperative radiation plus surgery vs. operation alone for laryngeal carcinoma]

To study the validity of preoperative radiation in improving the survival rate of laryngocarcinoma.

A prospective randomized clinical trial was conducted with preoperative radiation plus surgery (RS) as one group and surgery alone (SA) as the other group. The ages of the patients were less than 75 years, and the operative types were decided after clinical examination. The patients were divided into SA or RS group by random. Doses of preoperative irradiation was 40 Gy. Three hundred and seventy patients with laryngocarcinoma were treated, 215 in the SA group; 155 in the RS group. All patients were followed up over three years.

In SA group, 3 years survival rate was 83.3%, 5-year survival rate 82.6%, 10-year survival rate 80.3%. In RS group, 3-year survival rate was 78.9%, 5-year survival rate 76.4%, 10-year survival rate 68.6%. There is no statistically significant difference in survival rates between the groups (P = 0.1); but, the 10-year survival rate in SA group was better than that in RS group for the stage III and IV supraglottic carcinomas, the former was 73.6% and the latter 63.5% (P = 0.003). The 10-year survival rate for the patients with T3 and T4 supraglottic carcinomas who underwent total laryngectomy in SA group was better than that in RS group. The former was 68% and the latter 50% (P = 0.0001).

Preoperative radiotherapy with 40 Gy didn't increase the survival rate of laryngeal carcinoma. The 10-year survival of stages III and IV supraglottic carcinoma in combined treatment group was lower than that in the surgery alone group.