Background: The oncologic and functional outcome of transoral laser microsurgery (TLM) for primary treatment of hypopharyngeal cancer was examined in a multimodal treatment concept.
Methods: Two hundred eleven patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the hypopharynx (pT1-4a, pN0-2, M0) were treated by TLM +/- neck dissection (88%) +/- (chemo)radiotherapy ([C]RT; 51%). The majority of cases were advanced stages III and IVa (85%).
Results: The 5-year Kaplan-Meier estimates for local control after TLM were pT category-related 88.1%, 74.8%, 77.3%, and 61.8% for pT1-4a tumors. The 5-year estimates of overall survival (OS), disease-specific survival (DSS), and recurrence-free survival (RFS) for early stages I and II were 68.2%, 96.7%, and 74.6%, respectively; for stage III they were 65.9%, 83.8%, and 56.4%, respectively; and the rates for stage IVa were 44.5%, 60.7%, and 50.3%, respectively. Overall, 95.7% of the patients maintained regular oral nutrition without feeding tube dependency.
Conclusion: Primary TLM in multimodal concepts of treatment (+/- neck dissection, +/- [C]RT) offers favorable oncologic results as compared with other therapeutic regimes.
Keywords: carbon dioxide laser; hypopharynx; multimodal treatment concepts; pharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma; transoral laser microsurgery (TLM).
© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.