Endoscopic management of early supraglottic cancer.

An initial endoscopic surgical approach to early supraglottic cancer provides the surgeon with the ability to accurately stage these lesions, avoiding possible undertreatment while allowing for a valuable treatment option for those supraglottic cancers with histologically incontrovertibly superficial disease. Early invasion of the preepiglottic and paraglottic spaces can be determined accurately without altering or delaying any treatment option (open surgical excision, radiotherapy, or chemotherapy). The tendency of supraglottic cancers to transgress the natural foramina of the epiglottis is well established, and the concern about this depth of invasion is reflected by the 1977 revised staging criteria, which required assessment of the preepiglottic space (PES). Along with the microscope and the carbon dioxide laser, the adjustable supraglottiscope facilitates the determination of PES invasion and facilitates en bloc excision of superficial supraglottic cancers. The resulting morbidity typically is no different from that with routine direct endoscopy and biopsy.