Radiological Findings in Laryngeal Anterior Commissure Invasion: CT Scan Highlights

Preoperative anterior commissure (AC) evaluation in glottic cancer is crucial for therapeutic decisions. Endoscopy is often inadequate to precisely detect the presence of cancer in the AC; thus, computed tomography (CT) scan could help. We investigated the relation between AC thickness on CT scan (in mm), AC involvement by cancer at histology, and radiologic signs of anterior paraglottic space (PGS) infiltration.

Retrospective observational study.

An experienced radiologist retrospectively measured AC thickness and identified signs of anterior PGS infiltration on pretreatment contrast-enhanced CT scans of 80 patients with primary glottic cancer. The gold standard to define the presence of cancer in the AC was histology. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to determine the potential cut-off values of AC thickness (Youden index method) able to maximize both sensitivity and specificity in identifying the presence of cancer in the AC at histology and PGS infiltration on CT scan.

AC was significantly thicker in patients with cancer in the AC at histology (P < .001) and in patients with PGS infiltration on CT scan (P < .001). The cut-off values to discriminate the presence of cancer at histology and PGS infiltration on CT scan were 3.62 and 2.6 mm, respectively. We found a substantial agreement between anterior PGS infiltration on CT scan and the presence of cancer in the AC at histology (Cohen Kappa: P = .70).

AC thickness and radiologic signs of PGS infiltration on pretreatment CT scan could represent a method to predict the presence of cancer in the AC at histology.

4 Laryngoscope, 132:2427-2433, 2022.