A comparison of phonatory outcome between trans-oral CO 2 Laser cordectomy and radiotherapy in T1 glottic cancer

Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed at comparing phonatory outcomes between Trans-oral Laser Surgery and Radiotherapy in T1 glottic cancer.

Introduction

Early glottic carcinoma, i.e. T1 stage, can be treated using trans-oral surgery, radiotherapy, or partial open surgery. Trans-oral laser (TOL) surgical techniques and Radiotherapy (RT) have undergone significant advancement in the past few years leading to a decrease in open procedures. Various studies have been published comparing voice quality after TOL surgery and RT. There are few works which consider patients' opinions, i.e. subjective parameters regarding functional voice quality post treatment. This study uses both subjective and objective parameters to evaluate phonatory outcome of both treatment options.

Methods

Phonatory outcomes were measured in patients who underwent RT and CO₂ Laser excision for early laryngeal cancer. VHI, GRBAS and MDVP were used to measure the vocal outcome of treatment modality after 1 year of cancer-free survival. A comparison was then made between the outcomes in the two groups.

Results

Superior vocal outcomes in G, R and S criteria of the GRBAS scale, a better VHI index, and better jitter, shimmer and NHR were found in patients who underwent CO₂ laser excision as compared to patients who underwent RT. Other parameters were comparable between the two groups.

Conclusions

TOL surgery provides excellent vocal outcome as compared to RT in management of early glottic cancer and should be considered as the first line of management for the same.

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