Conservation laryngectomy after radiotherapy

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
There are several factors which the clinician should consider before advising a laryngeal cancer patient to undergo conservation laryngeal surgery. He must be confident that the surgical procedure can adequately excise the disease. He must be reasonably certain that the patient will be able to swallow without continuing aspiration. He should consider the patient''s age, general condition and pulmonary function. The final decision will be a matter of clinical judgment, but this should be based on all factors discussed in this paper. Like some other surgical procedures partial laryngectomy has been regarded with suspicion because it has been used for the wrong reasons in the wrong patients, with unsatisfactory results. This is no fault of the operation and there is a place for it in the correct circumstances. A surgeon in general ear, nose and throat practice may come across a suitable case only rarely, but a continuing awareness of the possibility of partial laryngectomy may allow an unnecessarily radical operation to be avoided.