Multicentric Cancer of the Larynx

Among 126 patients with laryngeal cancer treated between September 1986 and August 1993 at Nara Medical University, we encountered six patients with multicentric cancer of the larynx. We statistically investigated the role of tobacco and alcohol consumption to determine the causal factors in these cases. We chose as controls 60 patients with laryngeal cancer who had received total laryngectomy without irradiation therapy from among the 126 patients with laryngeal cancer. We confirmed that these multicentric intralaryngeal lesions were noncontinuous by examining whole organ serial sections. Tobacco consumption was highly related to the risk of multicentric cancer in the larynx (p<0.01), while alcohol consumption was not related to the risk of such lesions.Therefore, we conclude that synchronous secondary intralaryngeal lesions must not be overlooked and that the incidence of nonsynchronous secondary cancer of the larynx must be considered during follow-ups, when heavy-smokers are treated for laryngeal cancer by partial laryngectomy or irradiation therapy.