Long-Term Care and Follow-Up in Laryngeal Cancer Patients: A Multicenter Retrospective Analysis

Purpose: We conducted an outcome analysis on surgically treated laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) patients. Methods: A multicenter retrospective study with 352 patients was analyzed. A new nomogram that incorporates age, T- and N-classification, and treatment was created. Results: Recurrence was observed in 65 (18.5%) patients after a mean time of 16.5 months. After 60 months, 91 (25.9%) of patients developed secondary primary tumors (SPT), most commonly in the lungs (n = 29; 8.2%) followed by other head and neck cancers (n = 21; 6.0%). Notably, the mean time to occurrence of secondary head and neck cancers was twice that of lung cancer (101.1 vs. 47.5 months). Conclusion: Recurrent disease is less common in LSCC patients and appears much earlier than SPT. Because one in every four laryngeal cancer patients develops SPTs within 5-10 years, long-term care and follow-up, including imaging studies, are highly recommended. The nomogram was useful for estimating survival.

Automated summary

We conducted an outcome analysis on surgically treated laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC) patients. A new nomogram was created to estimate survival based on age, T- and N-classification, and treatment. Recurrence was observed in 18.5% of patients after a mean time of 16.5 months, while 25.9% developed secondary primary tumors (SPT) after 60 months, with lung cancer being the most common. The mean time to occurrence of secondary head and neck cancers was twice that of lung cancer. Long-term care and follow-up, including imaging studies, are highly recommended due to the high rate of SPT development in laryngeal cancer patients.