Transoral Laser Microsurgery of Supraglottic Cancer: A Survival Analysis.

Introduction: There needs to be more unanimity in the treatment approaches for supraglottic squamous cell carcinoma. This study evaluated the survival outcomes of patients who underwent transoral laser microsurgery for this type of cancer.

Materials and methods: This longitudinal study was conducted at a tertiary university hospital in Iran. Forty-one patients with supraglottic squamous cell carcinoma who underwent transoral laser microsurgery were included. The required data were extracted from medical records. Survival analysis using the Kaplan-Meier method was used to obtain the 5-year overall recurrence-free and laryngectomy-free survival rates.

Results: This study included 40 males (97.6%) and one female (2.4%). The mean ± standard deviation of patients' age was 55.17±8.43 years. The 5-year overall recurrence-free survival rate in all patients was 68.0%. In contrast, 76.0% of the cases were laryngectomy-free after five years. Patients in the T1 and T3 categories had better overall and laryngectomy-free survival rates when stratifying by disease stage, respectively. The 3-year local control rates of tumor were 80.0%, 63.1%, and 82.3% for T1, T2, and T3, respectively. The larynx could be preserved in four patients (80.0%) with T1, 15 patients (57.8%) with T2, and 14 patients (82.3%) with T3.

Conclusion: Our results suggest that transoral laser microsurgery may result in satisfactory recurrence-free survival and good oncologic outcomes. However, considering the indication of radiotherapy in some patients, the therapeutic effects of radiotherapy are part of the survival rate observed in this study.