Radiotherapy for cancer of the larynx: review of a community hospital experience.

Records of 106 patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx treated with radiation therapy (RT) at Washington Adventist Hospital between 1976 and 1988 were analyzed for patterns of failure and survival, with a minimum of five-year follow-up. In patients treated with RT alone, initial local control rate was 72% for tumors involving supraglottic larynx and 90% for glottic larynx; in postoperative RT patients, the rate was 65% in the supraglottic and 67% in the glottic larynx group. The laryngeal preservation rate in patients treated with RT alone was 87% in those with early lesions (T1 and T2) and 63% in those with advanced tumors (T3 and T4). The overall five-year determinate survival rates of the RT-only group and the postoperative RT group were 90% and 57%, respectively. In patients with advanced tumors (stages III and IV), survival rates were comparable for RT alone and postoperative RT (56% and 52%, respectively).