Utility of near-total laryngectomy for supraglottic, pharyngeal, base-of-tongue, and other cancers.

This report emphasizes the utility of the near-total laryngectomy for those patients in whom conventional conservation surgery is an option but may be oncologically or physiologically unsafe. The near-total operation can be offered for supraglottic cancer, pharyngeal cancer, and, more commonly, primary glottic cancer with cord fixation. Its application is described for patients who are candidates for conventional conservation surgery but are compromised physiologically by age or poor general health and for patients in whom tumor extent would not permit safe conventional conservation surgery.