ABSTRACT
To determine the effectiveness of carbon dioxide laser surgery in the treatment of benign laryngeal diseases and to determine its advantages over conventional surgery. Quasi-experimental interventional study. The study was conducted in Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi from January 2000 to January 2002. The study was carried out on 105 patients with freshly diagnosed benign laryngeal pathologies i.e. vocal cord nodules, vocal cord polyps, laryngeal papillomatosis, vocal cord paralysis, laryngeal web and stenosis; selected by convenience sampling from ENT OPD Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi and divided into two groups of 50 each [patient fallout = 05]. One group was treated by carbon dioxide laser [Laser opmilas carbon dioxide 50 medical system] and the other was treated by conventional surgical techniques. Data collection was carried out by means of a questionnaire and the outcome was compared in terms of disease control, hospital stay, complications and cost of the treatment. Computer software SPSS version 10.0 was used for data analysis; t-test was used for hospital stay and Chi square test was applied for the other variables. It was noted that surgery with CO[2] laser resulted in a comparatively better disease control, the hospital stay was much lesser as was the rate of complications and the cost of treatment was also much reduced as compared to conventional surgery. Laser surgery is a better option for the treatment of benign laryngeal pathologies as compared to conventional surgical techniques