The problem of neck relapse in early stage supraglottic cancer--results of different treatment modalities for the clinically negative neck.

We reviewed the records of patients with Stage I and II epidermoid carcinoma of the supraglottic larynx treated at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC), New York, and at the Rotterdam Radio-Therapeutic Institute (RRTI), The Netherlands, between 1965 and 1979. At the MSKCC the treatment modality of choice for the primary tumor as well as for the neck had been surgery; of the 79 patients treated by surgery an elective neck dissection was performed on 31 patients. At the RRTI, however, the initial treatment for the primary tumor and the neck is radiation therapy. One-hundred and one patients were treated of whom 79% (80/101) had radiation therapy to the primary tumor as well as to both sides of the neck. This paper focuses on the problem of relapse in the neck, thus comparing patients treated in two large cancer centers by different treatment philosophies, that is elective neck dissection on one side of the neck versus elective radiation therapy to both sides of the neck. Twenty-nine percent of the patients from MSKCC (23/79) relapsed in the neck. The relapse rate was identical between the patients who did not have an elective radical neck dissection, and those who did. Among the patients who relapsed in the neck 65% (15/23) have died of the cancer, while among those who did not, none has died of supraglottic larynx cancer. Twenty-three percent (23/101) of the patients of the RRTI relapsed in the neck. Those who received radiation therapy to the primary tumor only relapsed regionally in 38% (8/21); treatment of both sides of the neck reduced the incidence of nodal recurrence to 19% (15/80). The majority of patients who relapsed in the neck eventually died of the cancer, that is 57% (13/23). Data from both institutions once again demonstrate the impact on survival of a relapse in the neck. Best strategies for decreasing the relapse rate in the neck are discussed; the conclusion was reached that, so far, elective radiation to both sides of the neck is the preferable treatment.