Indications for operation in laryngeal cancer

Improvements in the surgical treatment of laryngeal cancer by combined laryngectomy and radical neck dissection have given new importance to selection of the mode of treatment for various stages of disease at that site. To cast light on the subject, the cases of 63 patients with cancer of the larynx were reviewed. Twenty-one of them were operated on for recurrence after radiation therapy; and 42 were treated surgically at the outset, 36 of them having combined laryngectomy and radical neck dissection. In almost 80 per cent of the patients the lesion was extrinsic. In the entire series, 51 patients had combined operations, and in 41 of them the cervical lymph nodes were positive for metastasis. Reports in the literature also make note of a very high incidence of cervical node metastasis not only in cases of extrinsic cancer, but also in those in which the lesion is intrinsic. Because of the frequency of cervical node spread, and its occult nature, choice between radiation and surgical operation must be made after candid, critical appraisal of the individual condition in each patient.