Carcinoma of the vocal cord: results of treatment and time-dose relationships.

A retrospective analysis has been done of 173 patients with epidermoid carcinoma of the vocal cord treated with radiation therapy at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center between January 1970 and December )974. one hundred fifty-eight patients (91.3%) were early (T1, T2) glottic lesion and 10 were advanced (T3, T4) lesion. Five (2.9%) were presented with positive cervical lymph nodes initially. Of 158 patients who had T1, T2N0M0 glottic tumor, 146 had definitive radiation therapy and 12 had preoperative radiation therapy. An analysis of frequency of local recurrence versus total dose (NSD) has been done for 146 patients and a dose response curve has been generated. Local failure rates were 22.2% for 1,800 +/- 50 rets, 11.1% for 1,900 +/- 50 rets, and 3.2% for 2,000 +/- 50 rets. For the early glottic cancer, local control rates were increased with increasing total dose without significant complications. In patients with advanced primary tumors, a greater number of the patients were treated with preoperative radiation therapy and this group had slightly better results.