Quality of voice after radiotherapy in early vocal cord cancer.

Early glottic cancer (T1, T2N0M0), a disease of the voice box, mainly affects the voice. It can be effectively treated with both surgery and radiotherapy. Preservation of the voice while treating vocal cord cancer is not simply retaining the ability to vocalize. It is the determinant of choice of treatment and quality of life following curative management. Radiotherapy has resulted in excellent control rates with voice preservation and has been the standard of care for many decades. Several patient- (e.g., smoking, age, amount of talking during treatment), disease- (e.g., extent and site of lesion) and treatment- (e.g., radiation field size and dose, voice therapy) related factors adversely affect the quality of voice after radiotherapy. Several studies have evaluated voice quality either subjectively or objectively. Still, little is known about it. Voice quality after radiotherapy improves but does not reach the standard of the normal controls.