Second primary malignancies in laryngeal carcinoma patients treated with definitive radiotherapy

Second primary malignancy (SPM) is associated with decreased overall survival (OS) in laryngeal carcinomas (LC).

One hundred eighty three LC patients were analyzed retrospectively. The primary and secondary endpoints were the incidence of SPM and the OS difference between patients with and without SPM.

SPM developed in 22 (12.0%) patients at median 52 months (range, 4-131 months), with a yearly 2.8% incidence, of which 19 (10.4%) and 3 (1.6%) were metachronous and synchronous, respectively. Lung was the commonest SPM (72.7%). Of 47 deaths, 12 (25.5%) were SPM related. Comparatively SPM patients had significantly shorter median OS (68.0 months vs. median not reached; P = 0.005), with lower 5-year (67.0% vs. 78.9%) and 8-year (32.6 vs. 69.8%) survival rates.

The present findings suggested the SPM as a competing risk factor for death in index LC patients with its annual incidence rate of 2.8% and for accounting one of every four deaths in this patients group. Emergence of lung carcinoma as the most frequent type of SPM and the ability to treat >50% of them with an estimated long-term outcomes emphasizes the importance of early diagnosis and curative treatment of SPMs.