title: Prospective study of outcomes of surgically treated larynx and hypopharyngeal cancers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the morbidity and survival of surgically treated locally advanced carcinoma larynx and hypopharynx in a tertiary referral center in South India, a prospective cohort study was carried out.
  
  
  METHODS
  Patients who had undergone laryngectomy or laryngopharyngectomy from January, 2006 to January, 2011 at our institute were prospectively studied for factors affecting morbidity tumor recurrence and disease free survival (DFS). DFS was calculated for the whole group and for the larynx and hypopharynx cancer subgroups separately, using Kaplan Meir Method and the survival differences of the larynx and hypopharynx groups and between salvage and primary surgical cases were evaluated using the Cox's regression scale .
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 154 patients with ages ranging from 23 to 78 (mean 56.3 + standard deviation 9.2) were studied, which included 145 males and 9 females. Pre-operative tracheostomy and previous radiotherapy were the most significant factors contributing to post-operative morbidity. Survival difference between the larynx and hypopharynx cancers was statistically significant and the DFS was significantly affected by primary site wound infection, primary site margin and node positivity.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results of laryngectomy can be optimized by "proper case selection and morbidity risk assessment".
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Oncology, Regional Cancer Centre, Trivandrum, Kerala, India.
authors.forename: B T
authors.initials: BT
authors.lastname: Varghese
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Babu
authors.forename: K P
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Desai
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Bava
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: George
authors.forename: E M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Iype
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Rajan
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sebastian
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002277:Carcinoma / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D018572:Disease-Free Survival; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007012:Hypopharyngeal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D007194:India; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult