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Radiotherapy showed no negative effect on survival in laryngeal cancer

Zhang H. Cancer. 2011;doi:10.1002/cncr.26357.

Issue: August 25, 2011

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Survival for patients assigned to radiotherapy for laryngeal cancer to preserve speech was similar to patients who underwent total laryngectomy, according to results from a large population-based study.

The researchers also concluded that black and poor patients were significantly less likely than whites and wealthier patients to receive radiation.

Researchers analyzed records collected in the SEER database of 13,808 patients diagnosed with nonmetastatic glottic and supraglottic cancer from 1988 to 2006. Researchers noted a significant increase in the use of radiation and a concurrent decrease in total laryngectomy during that period.

Among the three 5-year time periods studied — 1988 to 1993, 1994 to 1999 and 2000 to 2006 — researchers found no statistically significant differences in OS, cancer-specific survival or laryngeal cancer death rates between treatments for localized glottic cancer, regional glottic cancer, localized supraglottic cancer or regional supraglottic cancer.

For localized glottic cancer, white patients were significantly more likely than black patients to undergo radiation (OR=0.42; 95% CI, 0.29-0.61), as were patients in counties with the highest tertile of median household income compared with lowest tertile (OR=2.36; 95% CI, 1.54-3.62). That was also the case for regional glottic cancer for race (OR=0.76; 95% CI, 0.60-0.98) and income (OR=1.77; 95% CI, 1.37-2.28). The pattern held for regional supraglottic cancer for race (OR=0.68; 95% CI, 0.54-0.86) and income (OR=1.76; 95% CI, 1.45-2.14).

Patients aged 60 to 69 years were also less likely to receive radiation for any of the three diseases studied compared with the youngest patients. Married patients with localized glottic cancer were much more likely than never-married patients to receive radiation for localized glottic cancer (OR=2.07; 95% CI, 1.35-3.16).

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