A clinical study on T1 glottic cancer treated by laser technique

It is commonly accepted that radiotherapy is a first choice for treatment of T1 glottic cancer. However, side effects caused by irradiation are sometimes troublesome to a patient and to a physician. Among side effects, oncogenic problem and late radiation change are most undesirable and may become fatal. Hence, we avoid radiation therapy especially for younger aged patients. We prefer surgical therapy to radiotherapy for such a case. In our clinic, laser therapy has been employed. A laser beam is introduced through an operation microscope and a lesion can be microscopically vaporized. In this study, a survey of 40 patients with T1 glottic cancer submitted to laser surgery was reviewed. From those patients 25 were T1a and 15 were T1b. From our experience, laser vaporization is recommendable for T1 glottic cancer in younger aged patients. However, in order to obtain cure rate comparable to radiation therapy, the indication must be correctly designated.