Radiation Therapy in Cancer of the Larynx

Abstract

Unlike bronchial cancer, which has assumed almost epidemic proportions in many countries, cancer of the trachea is rare, and cancer of the larynx is uncommon. Laryngeal cancer, nevertheless, resembles bronchial cancer in being essentially a disease of men who smoke. Because of its accessibility to investigation, laryngeal cancer has been studied in detail; three regional and very different varieties of cancer have been recognized as occurring within this limited and specialized part of the upper respiratory tract.⁹The glottis, formed by the vocal cords, is the seat of 70% of these cancers; in 20% of cases, the supraglottis, ie, the region between the margins of the laryngeal opening and the epiglottis, is affected; the rarest laryngeal cancer site is the subglottic region, between the vocal cords and the lower border of the cricoid cartilage, where the incidence is 10%. The favorable features of laryngeal cancer are its relatively slow