title: Prognostic value of resection margins in supracricoid laryngectomy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective was to assess the prognostic value of surgical margin involvement in patients treated for squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx.
  
  
  METHODS
  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]).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  According to results of the study, patients with positive resection margins developed local recurrence more frequently than those with clear resection margins (P <.05).
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy. andrea.gallo@uniroma1.it
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gallo
authors.forename: Valentina
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Manciocco
authors.forename: Maria Luisa
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Tropiano
authors.forename: Marilia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Simonelli
authors.forename: Vincenzo
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Marvaso
authors.forename: Enzo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: D'Arcangelo
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: de Vincentiis
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D003413:Cricoid Cartilage; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery*; D007825:Laryngectomy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D011379:Prognosis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016019:Survival Analysis