Oncologic outcomes of supratracheal laryngectomy: Critical analysis

Background. Laryngeal cancer management should pursue function-sparing therapeutic options. Even though demolitive surgery provides better control of disease at intermediate-advanced stages when compared to chemoradiotherapy, it does not preserve laryngeal function. Supratracheal partial laryngectomy (STPL) has been described as a function-sparing surgical technique for laryngeal cancer with sub-glottic extension. Methods. In this retrospective study, we analyzed the clinical outcomes of 115 patients who underwent STPL. Results. At 5 years: overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS) and loco-regional control (LRC) rates were 78.9%, 68.5% and 69.6%, respectively; DFS and LRC prevalences were greatly affected by pT4a classification (49.0% and 51.4%, respectively); laryngeal function preservation (LFP) was maintained in 78.3% of patients despite being affected by pT4a classification (59.3%) and age ≥65 (64.6%). Conclusions. For cases with glottic tumors and with sub-glottic extension, the choice of STPL vs chemoradiotherapy can be considered to be effective in terms of prognostic and functional results.