Between January 1980 and December 1988, 141 patients were treated with radical radiotherapy for carcinoma of the larynx. One hundred and ten (78%) tumours arose on the vocal cords, twenty nine (21%) from the supraglottis and two (1%) from the subglottis. All 63 stage T1 cases, and all except three of 62 T2 cases seen in the time period, were treated by radiotherapy. In addition 14 selected T3 and 5 T4 cases were irradiated. Only 7% had clinical evidence of regional lymph node metastases at presentation. Median follow up is 47.5 months and 2+ year actuarial local control rates are T1-87%, T2-63%, T3-79% and T4-53%. The rates for vocal cord primaries are T1-86%, T2-58%, and T3-75%. Median time to local failure was 8 months with none occurring beyond 21 months. Two of 130 N0 cases (1.5%) relapsed in cervical lymph nodes with a policy of selective prophylactic irradiation of the regional lymphatic areas. Thirty three/thirty seven patients with locoregional failure underwent salvage surgery with 27/32 (84%) evaluable patients achieving ultimate locoregional control with median follow up of 18.5 months from salvage. Four patients (3%) developed distant metastases and 21 (15%) developed a second primary malignancy (including 13 lung cancers) with an actuarial rate of second primary tumours of 23% at five years. Three year actuarial survival for the whole group is 77% but 66% of deaths were due to causes other than larynx cancer. Tumour specific mortality by stage is T1-1.6%, T2-12%, T3,4-21%.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)