Role of lasers in glottic malignancies: our experience

Background: Laryngeal malignancy is one of the commonest head and neck cancers encountered in India. Most tumors are glottic in origin. Radiation, partial or total laryngectomy gives very good cure rates for these tumors. Lasers have emerged as an integral part of the treatment paradigm for patients with laryngeal cancer. Laser surgery is one of the primary treatment options for early-stage glottic tumors and can also be used for advanced laryngeal tumors. Methods: Fifty patients with laryngeal cancer were treated with laser over a 10-year period. Majority of patients were males with an average age of 46 years. Most patients had early (T1, T2) laryngeal malignancy (90%). There were a few patients with advanced laryngeal tumor (10%). All patients had tumor biopsy and simultaneous laserization of the tumor followed by radiation in T1 and T2 disease and chemo radiation in T3 disease. A few patients who had recurrence of disease after radiation (4%) were medically unfit for laryngectomy and underwent laserization of the tumor. Results: Laser surgery proved to be an important tool in the management of glottic tumors and is commonly utilized in the treatment of early-stage disease. It has also been successful for debulking of large tumors. Careful case selection is important for good outcomes. Conclusions: Transoral laser microsurgery and radiotherapy are useful treatment modalities in the management of early glottic malignancies. Lasers have proved to be effective in glottic malignancies with excellent oncologic and functional outcomes.