Prognostic value of resection margins in supracricoid laryngectomy

OBJECTIVES: The objective was to assess the prognostic value of surgical margin involvement in patients treated for squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study. METHODS: A review was made of 253 patients treated with supracricoid laryngectomy between 1984 and 2001. A histopathological study on the surgical resection margins was performed in all cases. The incidence of local recurrence was correlated with the histological features of resection margins. RESULTS: Forty patients (15.8%) were identified as having positive margins: 29 had invasive carcinoma and 11 had dysplastic lesions. The remaining 213 patients (84.2%) had negative margins. Subsequent follow-up showed that 19 of 253 patients developed local recurrence and 3 patients developed regional recurrence. Nine of these patients had positive resection margins (six with invasive carcinoma and three with dysplastic lesions), and 10 had negative resection margins. Overall survival at 3 years was significantly higher for patients without recurrence than for patients with local or regional failure (89.9% vs. 45.5% [P <.05]). CONCLUSION: According to results of the study, patients with positive resection margins developed local recurrence more frequently than those with clear resection margins (P <.05).     

Analysis of treatment results for oral tongue cancer

OBJECTIVE: The study reports the results of treatment of oral tongue cancer with five different treatment modalities with long-term follow-up. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective study of 332 patients with oral tongue cancer treated in the Departments of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery and Radiation Therapy at Washington University School of Medicine (St. Louis, MO) from 1957 to 1996. METHODS: Patients with biopsy-proven squamous cell carcinoma of the oral tongue who were previously untreated and were treated with curative intent by one of five modalities and who were eligible for 5-year follow-up were included. The treatment modalities included local resection alone, composite resection alone (with neck dissection), radiation therapy alone, local resection with radiation therapy, and composite resection with radiation therapy. Multiple diagnostic, treatment, and follow-up parameters were studied using standard statistical analysis to determine statistical significance. RESULTS: The overall 5-year disease-specific survival rate (DSS) was 57% with death due to tumor in 43%. The 5-year cumulative disease-specific survival probability (CDSS) was 0.61 (Kaplan-Meier) with a mean of 17.5 years and a median of 30.1 years. The DSS by treatment modality included local resection (73%), composite resection (61%), radiation therapy (46%), local resection and radiation therapy (65%), and composite resection with radiation therapy (CR/RT) (44%). Overall, local resection had a significantly improved DSS and CR/RT had a decreased DSS that was related to the stage of disease being treated. In treating stage IV disease, CR/RT produced a more significantly improved CDSS than the other treatment modalities. Recurrence at the primary site was as common as recurrence in the neck. Eighty-nine percent of recurrences occurred within the first 60 months. Recurrence significantly decreased survival. DSS was significantly improved in patients with clear margins of resection. Metastasis to a distant site occurred in 9.6% of patients. Twenty-one percent of patients had second primary cancers, and 54% of these patients died of their second primary cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Significant improvement in DSS was seen in patients with clear margins, early stage grouping and clinical (pretreatment) tumor stage, and negative nodes. Significant decrease in DSS was seen in patients with close or involved margins, advanced stage grouping and clinical (pretreatment) tumor staging, positive clinical (pretreatment) node staging, and tumor recurrence. Obtaining clear margins of resection is crucial because it significantly affects survival. A minimum of 5 years of close monitoring is recommended because of the high incidence of second primary cancers.     

Surgical margins in head and neck cancer: Intra- and postoperative considerations

Objective

To provide a perspective on the significance of recent reports for optimizing cancer free surgical margins that have challenged standard practices.

Efficacy and safety of a vessel sealing system in oral cancer resection and reconstructive surgery

Objective: Currently, many studies are being performed that focus on the efficacy and safety of the vessel sealing system (VSS) in various fields of surgery. However, in the field of oral cancer surgery, the efficacy and safety of VSS use have not been clarified.

Methods: One hundred and fifty-one patients underwent oral cancer resection and reconstructive surgery. They were divided into two groups: Ligasure vessel sealing system (LVSS) group and conventional surgery (CS) as control. Intra-operative blood loss, operating time, and incidence of post-operative complications and recurrence were analyzed.

Results: LVSS use significantly reduced intra-operative blood loss. The operating time was shortened only in mandibular gingiva cancer surgery. There were no differences between the two groups with regard to the incidence of post-operative complications and recurrence.

Conclusions: LVSS use was found to be effective and proved to be efficient and safe, and may be useful in oral cancer surgery.     

Positive surgical margins in cancer of the larynx

In order to determine what should be done for laryngeal cancer patients when surgical margins are positive, and to evaluate their prognosis, a retrospective review of 21 laryngeal cancer patients with positive surgical margins out of 714 surgically treated cases (2.9%) was carried out. Nineteen patients were treated with postoperative radiation therapy. Two patients who had had endolaryngeal partial laryngectomy were treated with vertical partial laryngectomy. Two patients were lost to follow-up. Ten patients (10/19; 53%) were recurrence-free. Four patients had local, two had regional, and two had locoregional recurrences. Only one patient with a local recurrence could be salvaged with total laryngectomy and is disease-free. One patient developed liver metastasis. Nineteen patients had a mean and median disease-free survival of 48 and 36 months, respectively. Nine out of fourteen patients (64%) treated curatively were recurrence-free. The patients with positive margins developed significantly more locoregional recurrences than those with free margins (P < 0.05). We conclude that surgical margins must be checked peroperatively with frozen sections to make sure that they are free. The margins of every laryngectomy specimen must be diligently examined. If positive, re-excision, postoperative radiotherapy and chemotherapy are treatment alternatives. They should not just be managed with close follow-up. However, whatever treatment is applied, the prognosis for patients with positive margins is significantly worse than for those with free margins. Received: 18 August 2000 / Accepted: 23 January 2001     

Early detection of premalignant lesions and oral cancer

Cancers of the oral cavity account for approximately 3% of malignancies diagnosed annually in the United States. As with other upper aerodigestive tract cancers, 5-year survival rates for oral cavity cancers decrease with delayed diagnosis. Cancers of the oral cavity are thought to progress from premalignant/precancerous lesions, beginning as hyperplastic tissue and developing into invasive squamous cell carcinoma. Despite the general accessibility of the oral cavity during physical examination, many malignancies are not diagnosed until late stages of disease. To prevent malignant transformation of these oral precursor lesions, multiple screening and detection techniques have been developed to address this problem.     

原发性颈段气管癌的手术治疗

目的　探讨原发性颈段气管癌的手术治疗途径与经验。方法　 1997年 1月～ 1999年 4月手术治疗 6例原发性颈段气管癌 ,手术切除肿瘤后 ,采用气管端端吻合、颈前肌皮瓣 +胸舌骨肌筋膜瓣、带蒂胸锁乳突肌肌骨膜瓣及胸大肌肌皮瓣修复气管缺损。病理类型 :腺样囊性癌 3例 ,鳞状细胞癌 2例 ,腺癌 1例。 2例鳞状细胞癌患者术后放射治疗剂量为 6 0Gy。结果　 6例患者分别在术后2 3d～ 3个月拔除气管套管 ,无术后并发症。随访 3年以上 ,除 1例鳞状细胞癌患者术后 2年死于肺转移 ,其余 5例患者呼吸、发音良好 ,纤维支气管镜检查未见复发 ,气管管腔黏膜光滑。结论　手术治疗颈段气管癌可以一期切除肿瘤 ,根据缺损不同采用气管端端吻合或自体组织移植如颈前肌皮瓣 +胸舌骨肌筋膜瓣、带蒂胸锁乳突肌肌骨膜瓣及胸大肌肌皮瓣重建气管。     

The expression of epidermal growth factor receptors in the oral mucosa of patients with oral cancer

Summary Representative tumor samples and mucosal samples were taken from three different groups of patients and were stained immunohistochemically for their expressions of epidermal growth factor receptors (EGFR). Patients in group 1 had oral squamous carcinoma, with specimens taken from the tumor as well as from the mucosa without tumor invasion. Patients in group 2 had no evidence of tumor but had heavy drinking and smoking habits. Tumor-free patients who do not drink or smoke served as the control group. The findings in the present study showed that the tumor and mucosal samples from groups 1 and 2 had increased EGFR expression while the control group showed significantly less EGFR. These results suggest that EGFR may play a role in the development of premalignant tissue changes, which are probably influenced by chronic toxic irritation.Presented at the XXI Pan American Congress of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, Bahia-Salvador, Brazil, 2 November 1988     

The impact of surgical margin status on the outcomes of locally advanced hypopharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma treated by primary surgery

Abstract

Background: The extent of surgical safety margin remained unclear in hypopharyngeal carcinoma surgery.

Aim: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the influence of surgical margin status on the outcomes of patients with advanced hypopharyngeal carcinoma.

Material and methods: A retrospective analysis of clinical data was performed in 205 patients with stage III/IV hypopharyngeal carcinoma treated by primary surgery between January 2005 and December 2014. There were 129 patients with clear surgical margins (≥5?mm) and 76 with close surgical margins (<5?mm). The clinical characteristics and treatment outcomes were compared between the two groups.

Results: Close surgical margin (cSM) was found to be a significant risk factor for local recurrence, overall survival (OS) and disease-specific survival (DSS). Analysis by stratification according to pT classification showed that the OS and DSS rates of T1/T2 tumors with clear surgical margins (nSM) were significantly higher than those with cSM (p?<?.05), while there was no significant difference in the OS and DSS rates between T3/T4 tumors with cSM and nSM (p?>?.05).

Conclusions and significance: The tailored extent of surgical resection margin was recommended for locally advanced hypopharyngeal carcinomas according to primary tumor stage.