Voice outcomes after laser surgery vs. radiotherapy of early glottic carcinoma: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND

Radiotherapy and laser resection are established treatment modalities for early glottic carcinoma. To date, there is no confirmed conclusion which treatment is better for early glottic cancer. The objective of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis to compare the voice outcomes after laser resection (LS) and radiotherapy (RT) of Tis-T1N0M0 glottic carcinoma.

METHODS

we searched the relevant electronic studies and performed a meta-analysis based on 13 published studies. The Chi-square based I(2)-statistic test was performed to evaluate possible heterogeneity across the studies. Additionally, random-effects models were used to calculate mean differences with 95% confidence intervals (CIs).

RESULTS

Overall, a total of 13 published studies were included in our study, with 368 patients in the RT group and 440 patients in the LS group, respectively. No significant differences in Voice Handicap Index (VHI), jitter and shimmer were found between RT and endoscopic LS among patients with Tis-T1N0M0 glottic carcinoma and T1aN0M0 laryngeal cancer. However, the acoustic voice analysis parameters of Fo values were significantly lower in RT group than that in LS group.

CONCLUSION

The results from this meta-analysis support that the LS has more advantages than RT in terms of voice quality. However, more studies on voice outcome need to validate our findings.