Long-term follow-up and salvage surgery in patients with T2N0M0 squamous cell carcinoma of the glottic larynx following concurrent chemoradiation therapy with cisplatin and 5-fluorouracil for laryngeal preservation.

Conclusion: Patients who received concurrent chemoradiation therapy or radiation therapy alone were followed over a long term. The complete response (CR), 10-year survival, and 10-year larynx preservation rates were 87.5%, 95.3%, and 75.1%, respectively. Statistically, concurrent chemoradiation therapy contributes to laryngeal preservation but not to the survival rate.

Objective: To determine the additive and synergistic effects of anticancer chemotherapy combined with chemoradiation therapy for squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the glottic larynx.

Methods: Eighty-nine patients with untreated T2N0M0 SCC of the glottic larynx were included. Thirty-two patients received treatment cycles consisting of intravenous cisplatin (CDDP) on day 1 (80 mg/m(2)) and intravenous 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) over 120 h on days 2-6 (600 mg/m(2)/day) every 4 weeks. Radiotherapy was delivered by a 4 MV linac X-ray machine at a dose of 66 Gy. Fifty-seven patients received radiotherapy alone.

Results: After chemoradiation therapy, the overall response, CR, 10-year survival, and 10-year larynx preservation rates were 100%, 87.5%, 95.3%, and 75.1%, respectively. Side effects included leukopenia, neutropenia, mucositis, and dermatitis. Seven patients (21.9%) required salvage surgery. Pathological findings confirmed that the treatment regimen caused marked cancer tissue degeneration. Histologic examination of surgical specimens suggested that the safety margin for partial laryngectomy was 4 mm from the gross tumor.