[The effect of different treatment of cervical lymph node on the prognosis of patients with clinically negative neck (cN0) supraglottic laryngeal carcinoma].

OBJECTIVE

To summarize the effect of different treatment of cervical lymph node on the prognosis of patients with clinically negative neck (cN0) supraglottic laryngeal carcinoma (SGLC), and to explore the significance of selective neck dissection of levels II, III and(or) IV on SGLC patients with cN0 neck.

METHOD: A retrospective analysis was undertaken for 83 supraglottic laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma patients with cNo from January 2003 to May 2007 at the Department of Otolaryngology, First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University. All medical records was complete and all primary tumor were resected by surgery, the follow-up time was at least 5 years or until patients died. The patients' five year survival rate was compared between the selective neck dissection group and other three groups (neck radiotherapy group, combined therapy group and 'wait and see' policy group).

RESULT: The rate of cervical lymph node metastasis of cN0 supraglottic carcinoma patients with cN0 neck was 30.77%, and with the increasing of T stage, the rate of cervical lymph node metastasis increased gradually. The cervical lymph node recurrence rate of intervention groups was significantly lower than that of 'wait and see' group (P < 0.05). No significant difference (P > 0.05) of 5-year survival rate between selective neck dissection group, neck radiotherapy group, combined therapy group was observed, the difference was significant between selective neck dissection group and observation group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Selective neck dissection is one of effective measures to process neck lymph node for cN0 SGLC clinically.