Prognostic analysis of surgical treatment for T3 glottic laryngeal cancer based on different tumor extension patterns

To investigate the prognostic impact of different tumor invasion patterns in the surgical treatment of T3 glottic laryngeal cancer.

We conducted a retrospective analysis of clinical data of 91 patients with T3 glottic laryngeal cancer.

We found that the posterior invasion being significantly associated with involvement of the lamina of cricoid cartilage (P < 0.001), arytenoid cartilage (P = 0.001), and subglottic (P = 0.001). There was no statistical difference in survival outcomes between the total laryngectomy (TL) group and the partial laryngectomy (PL) group, but in the PL group, tumors with anterior invasion were associated with a better 5-year DFS than tumors with posterior invasion (HR: 4.681, 95% CI: 1.337–16.393, P = 0.016), and subglottic involvement was associated with worse LRRFS (HR: 3.931, 95% CI: 1.054–14.658, P = 0.041). At the same time, we found that involvement of the lamina of cricoid cartilage was an independent risk factor for postoperative laryngeal stenosis in PL patients (HR: 11.67, 95% CI: 1.89–71.98, P = 0.008).

Selectively performed PL can also achieve favorable oncological outcomes comparable to those of TL. Posterior invasion and subglottic involvement are independent prognostic factors for recurrence after PL in T3 glottic laryngeal cancer, and involvement of the lamina of cricoid cartilage is associated with postoperative laryngeal stenosis. The tumor invasion pattern of patients with laryngeal cancer should be further subdivided to allow for selection of a more individualized treatment plan.