A clinico-pathological study of laryngeal and hypopharyngeal carcinoma: correlation of cord-arytenoid mobility with histopathologic involvement.
OBJECTIVE
This study evaluates the vocal cord and arytenoid mobility in relation to the tumoral involvement of the cricoarytenoid joint (CAJ), thyroarytenoid (TA) muscle, and posterior cricoarytenoid (PCA) muscle in whole-organ sections of total laryngectomy specimens.


METHODS
The study was prospectively carried out between 1998 and 2003 and involved 133 primary squamous cell carcinoma cases of larynx or pyriform sinus that were treated with total laryngectomy. Preoperative mobility of vocal cords and arytenoids were evaluated separately and correlated with histopathologic findings.


RESULTS
In cases with fixed vocal cord CAJ, TA muscle, and PCA muscle were involved in 42.4%, 72.9%, and 27.1% of the cases, respectively, while in cases with fixed arytenoid these structures were affected in 40%, 66.3%, and 25.3% of the cases. Weight effect seemed to play a role in 60% and 50% of the cases of supraglottic and pyriform sinus carcinoma, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
Careful evaluation of the mobility of the cord arytenoid unit separately helps the surgeon to better understand the patterns of tumoral extension guiding for the appropriate surgery which should be undertaken.
Katilmiş
Hüseyin
H
Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Atatürk Research and Training Hospital, Ministry of Health, Izmir, Turkey.
Oztürkcan
Sedat
S
Ozdemir
Ismail
I
Adadan
Işil
I
Tunç
Aziz
A
Akder
Ayşegül
A
Başoğlu
Sinan
S
D001193:Arytenoid Cartilage / Q000473:pathology*; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007012:Hypopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology* / Q000601:surgery; D007825:Laryngectomy; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D011446:Prospective Studies; D014827:Vocal Cords / Q000473:pathology*