Results of radiation therapy in carcinoma of the larynx

Between 1973 and 1977, 254 patients with previously untreated squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx received 60Co external beam therapy; 161 patients (63.4%) survived without evidence of malignancy for five years after the radiation therapy alone, and 21 patients survived after salvage surgery. The overall crude survival rate was 182/254, i.e. 71.7 per cent at five years. Five-year survival rates without evidence of malignancy were 81.6 per cent in stage I, 73.4 per cent in stage II, and 40.8 per cent in stage III.