Radiation therapy of glottic carcinoma: Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute experience.

The medical records of patients with T1N0, T2N0 and T3N0 squamous cell carcinomas of the glottis treated at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Institute between January 1983 and October 1988 were retrospectively reviewed. One hundred and twenty-seven patients were identified. There were 93 T1, 26 T2 and eight T3 tumours. These patients were treated with curative radiotherapy (60-70 Gy). The survival from glottic cancer of patients with T1, T2 and T3 tumours at 5 years was estimated to be 97, 62 and 100% respectively. The local disease free survival for T1 and T2 disease at 5 years was estimated to be 82 and 65% respectively. The local disease free survival for T3 tumours at 2 years was estimated to be 63% with 5 year survival not yet reached. The surgical salvage rates for 24 radiotherapy failures were 77, 25 and 66% for T1, T2 and T3 tumours respectively. Radiotherapy remains the treatment of choice for T1 tumours and a viable alternative to primary laryngectomy in more advanced glottic tumours, with salvage surgery in reserve.