[Surgery and radiotherapy of early glottic carcinoma]

167 patients with early glottic carcinoma treated by surgery or radiotherapy in the past 25 years are analysed. Of these patients, 74 with T1 N0 M0 glottic carcinoma treated by surgery gave a 5-year survival rate of 93.2%. In these 74 patients, 5 who received total laryngectomy and 69, partial laryngectomy gave 5-year survival rates of 80% and 94.2%. In this series, 93 patients treated by radiotherapy gave a 5-year survival rate of 87.4%. There was no significant difference between the two groups (X2 test P greater than 0.05). The above results showed that the results of surgery and radiotherapy are similar. The authors suggest that radiotherapy be considered as the first choice for this type of cancer for its advantages over surgery.