Survival study in early stages of glottis cancer, stratified by treatment

Introduction Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the vocal cord in stages I or II can be treated with radiotherapy (RT) or transoral CO2 laser microsurgery (TLM), with good oncological results. Objectives To study the survival of patients with SCC of the vocal cord in early stages, treated with RT or TLM, in a tertiary hospital. Material and methods Disease-free survival (DFS), specific survival (SS), and overall survival (OS) were studied in patients diagnosed with stage I and II SCC of the vocal cord, for a span of 10 years of follow-up, based on sociodemographic characteristics of the patient and the primary treatment (TLM or RT). Results Both treatments achieved good survival rates. However, long-term SS was greater in patients treated with TLM compared to those treated with RT (91.7% vs. 50%, respectively, p = .001). In addition, patients treated with TLM presented a higher OS in the short term than those treated with RT (99.0% vs. 89.1%, respectively. p = .004). Conclusions and significance Primary treatment with TLM obtained better results than RT in the survival of patients with SCC of the vocal cord in the early stages.