A Clinicopathological Study of Laryngeal Malignancies - An Institutional Experience

OBJECTIVE: To determine the risk factors and clinico-pathological pattern of the laryngeal malignancies DESIGN: Descriptive case-series. SETTING: Department of Otorhinolaryngology - Head and Neck Surgery, Dow Medical College, Civil Hospital Karachi and Dow University of Health Sciences from, March 1998 to March 2009. METHODS: All patients of either gender having malignant lesion of larynx were included. Recurrent cases after surgery or chemoradiotherapy and benign tumours of the larynx were excluded from the study. Patients were studied with particular importance to the risk factors, mode of presentation, topography and histopathology of the tumour. RESULTS: Out of 100 patients, 89 were males and 11 were females with male to female ratio of 8.1:1. Majority of the subjects was in 5th decade of their life. Tobacco intake in the form of smoking or chewing was present in 91%. Presenting symptoms were hoarseness, odynophagia, sore throat, dysphagia and dyspnoea/stridor. Transglottic area was the commonest site (39%) for laryngeal cancer. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) found in 98% of patients. Well differentiated category seen in 57% of patients. CONCLUSIONS: SCC was the most frequent malignant lesion of larynx. Most of the patients presented in the late stages (stage III and IV). Commonest presenting symptom was hoarseness. Smoked tobacco (cigarette smoking) was found to be the major risk factor.