Radiation Found To Be More Effective Than Surgery At Preventing Second Larynx Cancers In Patients Treated For Early Larynx Cancer

Researchers from Loyola University Medical Center have recently reported on the safety and efficacy of two treatment options commonly recommended to patients with early larynx cancer.

The largest and only study of its kind examined a total of 3898 patients from a NCI sponsored national database who underwent either surgery or radiation. The lead investigator, Dr. Gopal Sachdeva concluded that long term cure rates were equivalent with both of these options. In addition, there was no increased risk of second cancers among patients who received radiation compared to the surgical control. More importantly, surgical management of these patients resulted in a long term statistically significant increased risk of developing a second laryngeal cancer which radiation appears to protect against. This, according to Dr. Sachdeva, "can be explained by a concept called 'field cancerization.'"


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