Combined Therapy for Cancer of the Laryngopharynx

Fifty-three patients with laryngeal cancer have been treated with combined therapy at the Mount Sinai Hospital since 1958. Thirty-five are alive and well. Six are dead of disease and only three of these patients developed local recurrences. Three had distant metastases. A histopathological study consisting of en bloc serial sectioning of laryngeal and neck specimens has demonstrated several advantages to the use of combined therapy. Among these are the recognition and total surgical extirpation of isolated postradiation nests of laryngeal cancer cells throughout the original tumor site. In addition, incubation of laryngeal cancer in vitro with tritiated thymidine has demonstrated cell viability after 5,500 rads of preoperative radiation.