Our experience in the surgical treatment of T1 carcinoma of the vocal cord.

From 1971 to 1986, 94 patients suffering from T1 glottic carcinoma underwent cordectomy at the University ENT Clinic of Thessaloniki, Greece. There were five female and 89 male patients with a median age of 61.7 years. Two year survival rate was 93.7 per cent; five year survival rate was 93.2 per cent. Seventeen of the patients suffered recurrence, but 11 of them after laryngectomy or radiotherapy are alive with no sign of the disease. Tracheostomy was not performed in the majority of our cases. The relationship between the site of recurrence and survival as well as the role of radiotherapy before and after cordectomy in some of our patients are discussed. We believe that despite the good results of radiotherapy in T1 carcinoma of the vocal cord and the introduction of other treatment modalities such as CO2 laser, cordectomy by laryngofissure is still of value with very good survival results and minimal discomfort for the patient.