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Surgery Outcomes in Larynx and Hypopharynx Cancer Patients
Radiation has become the treatment of choice for patients with larynx and hypopharynx cancer, but when it fails and the cancer recurs, surgery may be used. Researchers in Switzerland now say that salvage surgery isn't always successful. Their study is reported in the December issue of the Archives of Otolaryngology - Head & Neck Surgery.
Researchers studied 54 patients with cancer of the larynx or hypopharynx. For patients with laryngeal cancer, the average time from radiation to detection of the recurrence was 14.5 months. More than half of the patients had a more advanced tumor after radiation than at their initial evaluation. Most of the patients received a total laryngectomy. Researchers say in this group the 5-year survival rate was 63 per cent.
Patients who had hypopharyngeal cancer had an average of 10.6 months from radiation to the detection of the cancer returning. Most of the patients received total laryngopharyngectomy. The 5-year survival rate in this group was 20 per cent.
Researchers conclude that surgery after radiation achieves good results in patients with laryngeal cancer. However, they say that surgery in hypopharyngeal cancer shows poor survival rates and should only be recommended for carefully selected patients.
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