Prognostic importance of surgical margins in advanced laryngeal squamous carcinoma

✍ Scribed by Carol R. Bradford; Gregory T. Wolf; Susan G. Fisher; Kenneth D. McClatchey

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 601 KB
• Volume: 18
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1043-3074
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0347(199601/02)18:1<11::aid-hed2>3.0.co;2-1

✦ Synopsis

Background. The prognostic significance of the status of surgical margins remains unclear in patients with cancer of the larynx.

Methods. To further evaluate this issue, a cohort of 159 surgically treated patients with advanced (stage 111, IV) squamous carcinoma of the larynx who were part of a prospective multi-institutional clinical trial (VA Laryngeal Cancer Study Group) were studied.

Results. All patients underwent total laryngectomy (n = 144) or supraglottic laryngectomy (n = 15) followed by radiotherapy. Surgical margins were assessed intraoperatively and reported on final pathology as either clear (n = 134), tumor within 5-10 mm of the surgical margin (n = 6), less than 5 mm from the surgical margin (n = 8), or involved (n = 11). Postoperative complications, especially fistula rates, were significantly associated with margin status (p = .04 and p = ,004, respectively). No significant differences were de-From the Departments of Otolaryngologykiead and Neck Surgery (Drs.