Partial vertical laryngectomy in the treatment of early glottic cancer

Treatment of early glottic cancer is still controversial. A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the results of 49 partial vertical laryngectomies in our department. All patients except 1 were successfully decannulated. The quality of voice was suboptimal but serviceable in all patients. Overall, there were 9 recurrences: 7 in the larynx and 2 in the neck. In the laryngeal recurrence group, 5 of 6 patients were successfully salvaged with total laryngectomy. One patient died of acute renal failure 1 month after salvage operation. Another patient survived 4.5 years after cisplatin-based chemotherapy. In the neck recurrence group, 1 patient was successfully salvaged with neck dissection; the other was lost to follow-up after neck dissection. The actuarial 5-year survival rate was 97.4% and the larynx preservation rate was 88%. The recurrence rate was 14%, when 2 of the 7 laryngeal recurrences were excluded because they occurred beyond 5 years. The results of this series were encouraging. We suggest that partial vertical laryngectomy is a good treatment modality for selected early glottic cancers, especially those of the T1 group.