Conclusions: Endoscopic tumor ablation is a valuable option for inoperable postoperative laryngotracheal intraluminal invasion of well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC).
Objectives: To investigate whether DTC invasion to the laryngotracheal mucosa can be controlled by 'simple' tumor ablation considering its relatively slow-growing nature.
Patients and methods: Twenty-two consecutive patients underwent endoscopic tumor ablation caused by DTC for local control of intraluminal lesions with no significant extrinsic laryngotracheal compression in symptomatic or asymptomatic patients in whom radical operations were contraindicated. Debulking by Nd:YAG laser was followed by electrocoagulation and microwave coagulation for the residual tumor base.
Results: The critical complication, post-treatment supraglottic stenosis, was managed by prophylactic minitracheotomy. During the follow-up period of up to 125 months, 6 of 22 patients died (median survival 50 months), mainly of lung metastases, but all had a patent airway at death. Post-surgical extraluminal lesion growth is indolent and since relapse of the intraluminal lesion is the main cause of symptoms, satisfactory local control could be obtained by re-ablation of the mucosal lesion every few years. Lesions requiring retreatment within 1 year after initial treatment usually have high-grade malignancy, causing extrinsic compression, and prognosis is unfavorable.