Radiation therapy of early glottic carcinoma. A Japanese experience

From 1969 and through 1979, 105 patients with T1 N0M0 and T2 N0M0 glottic carcinoma were treated with irradiation alone. The minimum follow-up period was 2 years, and only one patient was lost to follow-up. There were 62 T1a lesions, 14 T1b, 19 T2 with normal mobility, and 10 T2 with impaired mobility; relapses occurred in 10, 4, 1 and 3 patients, respectively. All but one patient who relapsed had local recurrence with or without nodal or distant spread. One patient had only nodal metastasis. Six of the 18 relapses were successfully cured by surgery. None of the patients who had nodal or distant spread survived. The relapse rates had no clear relation to total dose or TDF value. T1 lesions treated through larger fields (greater than or equal to 25 cm2) had a lower relapse rate than lesions treated through smaller fields, but the difference was not statistically significant.