Oncologic outcomes after supracricoid partial laryngectomy

To review the oncologic outcomes of a series of supracricoid partial laryngectomy.

Case series with chart review.

La Paz University Hospital, Madrid, Spain.

Forty-one patients with glottic or supraglottic squamous cell carcinoma who underwent supracricoid partial laryngectomy between 1998 and 2008 at the authors' institution.

Local control rate, specific-disease survival rate, and overall survival rate.

All patients were male, with a mean age of 56 years (range, 38-71 years). Forty-one percent of tumors were classified as locally advanced carcinomas (T3-T4). Thirty-three patients (80%) underwent supracricoid laryngectomy with cricohyoidoepiglottopexy. Epiglottis was resected in the remaining 8 patients. One patient died in the immediate postoperative period because of cardiac tamponade, 6 developed pneumonia, 2 had a postoperative bleeding that required reintervention, and 2 developed pharyngocutaneous fistula. The median follow-up period was 43 months. More than 85% of the patients completed more than 2 years of follow-up. Five-year actuarial local control rate was 80%, being 92% for T1-T2 tumors and 67% for locally advanced tumors. Thirty-five patients (85%) preserved their larynx. The 6 patients who underwent total laryngectomy had a local recurrence or a regional recurrence that infiltrated the larynx. No laryngectomy was performed for functional reasons.

Supracricoid partial laryngectomy is an oncologically safe procedure to preserve laryngeal functions in selected patients with glottic and supraglottic carcinomas.