A Clinical Analysis of Cases with Stage IV Laryngeal Carcinoma

Forty-four cases with stage IV laryngeal carcinoma treated in our department between 1991 and 2009 were clinically analyzed. The cases were equivalent to 16.8% of the total laryngeal cases, and 77.3% of the stage IV cases were of the supraglottic type. The disease-specific 5-year survival rate of all of the stage IV cases was 67.2%. Differences in the prognoses between under T3 and T4 were not statistically significant. Although the differences in the prognoses between surgical and nonsurgical treatment of the larynx were not statistically significant, neck dissection cases had a significantly better prognosis compared to cases without neck dissection. Neither radiotherapy nor chemotherapy had any influence on the prognosis. Therefore, positive treatment is needed even though the stage of the cases is advanced, and especially in cases with neck lymph node metastasis, neck dissection is strongly recommended. For histopathologically high-risk cases in which radiotherapy and chemotherapy were indicated in this study, appropriate additional treatment will be effective in order to prevent prognostic deterioration.