The Treatment Outcomes of Primary Subglottic Cancer

Received June 14, 2011 Revised September 8, 2011 Accepted September 18, 2011 Address for correspondence Soon Yuhl Nam, MD Department of Otolaryngology, Asan Medical Center, College of Medicine, University of Ulsan, 88 Olympic-ro 43-gil, Songpa-gu, Seoul 138-736, Korea Tel +82-2-3010-3710 Fax +82-2-489-2773 E-mail synam@amc.seoul.kr Background and ObjectivesZZPrimary subglottic cancer is uncommon, so our understanding of primary subglottic cancer is limited. The purpose of this study is to review the clinical characteristics and treatment result of primary subglottic cancer from our experience. Subjects and MethodZZDuring the period from Nov. 1996 to Nov. 2010, patients with primary subglottic cancer were reviewed retrospectively. The mean follow up period was 46.1 ±40.9 months. We analyzed its clinical characteristics, stage, treatment results and survival rate. ResultsZZOf 824 patients with diagnosed laryngeal cancer, 8 (0.97%) had primary subglottic cancer and hoarseness (50.0%) is the most common initial presenting symptom. The symptom of dyspnea was found in 25.0% (2/8) of the patients and squamous cell carcinoma in 75% (6/8). At the time of diagnosis, the four clinical stages of TNM, T1, T2, T3 and T4, had 1 (12.5%), 2 (25.0%), 1 (12.5%) and 4 (50.0%) patients, respectively. There were two cases of cervical lymph node metastases, N1 and N2c. No distant metastasis was found. Two groups of patients comprising of two patients each received surgery alone or radiation alone as an initial treatment; another two groups of patients comprising of two patients each received concurrent chemoradiation or surgery plus radiation therapy alone. The overall 2-year survival rate was 80.0% and 2-year disease free survival rate was 51.7% in patients with squamous cell carcinoma. ConclusionZZDespite the infrequency of primary subglottic cancer, it is important to understand its clinical characteristics and treatment results during the early diagnosis to make the prognosis better. Korean J Otorhinolaryngol-Head Neck Surg 2011;54:699-702