Thyroid carcinoma.

The mode of presentation, initial findings, treatment, and survival in differentiated thyroid carcinoma were studied in 155 patients. The classic signs, symptoms, and scan findings were present in approximately 70 per cent of the patients, with the remaining 30 per cent displaying unusual manifestations or findings. The effects of neck metastases, extracapsular invasion, and recurrent laryngeal nerve involvement on long-term survival were studied in detail. Prognosis was dependent more on age at initial appearance than any other factor. Patients with prior exposure to radiation had more extensive disease and required more extensive surgery, but they ultimately had the same prognosis for 10-year cure. Treatment of distant metastatic disease by surgery, radioactive iodine, and external radiation resulted in long-term survival in certain cases.

Difficult decisions in the management of thyroid carcinoma.

Five unusual case studies are presented. Each case is followed by solutions proposed by three authorities and a concluding commentary by the editor.

Nonsquamous tumors of the oral cavity.

The clinical presentations of various nonsquamous tumors of the oral cavity are reviewed, along with their gross pathology, histology, and treatment. Survival rates are presented for those neoplasms that occur frequently enough to allow meaningful analysis of various modes of therapy.

The conservation neck dissection.

This study compares the neck tumor recurrence rate between patients treated with radical neck dissection and those treated with conservation neck dissection. A standard radical neck dissection modified by sparing at least the internal jugular vein or the spinal accessory nerve is defined as a conservation dissection. Six hundred ninety-one neck dissections performed on 631 patients in the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Chicago were reviewed retrospectively. All patients had been followed postoperatively for at least 24 months. Group I consisted of 422 radical neck dissections. Group II contained 269 conservation neck dissections. We found no statistically significant difference in the rate of neck recurrence between the group of patients who underwent radical neck dissection and the group who underwent conservation neck dissection.

Patterns of cancer recurrence in the postoperatively irradiated neck.

Data from 92 patients with stage III or IV squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck treated with surgery and planned postoperative radiotherapy were analyzed to determine the incidence and patterns of tumor recurrence. Overall, recurrent tumor in the cervical region developed in 19 patients (21%). Of these, eight were in the neck alone and 11 in both the neck and the primary site. All recurrences were in the ipsilateral cervical region and none in the contralateral neck. The presence of two or more metastatic nodes at the time of surgery correlated with tumor recurrence and decreased survival. Extracapsular tumor spread increased the recurrence rate. Our data suggest that postoperative radiotherapy decreases ipsilateral cervical tumor recurrence in only those patients with more than two metastatic lymph nodes, and contralateral neck recurrence in all patients.

Cancer of the glottis: prognostic factors in radiation therapy.

The authors conducted a multivariate analysis of the prognostic factors in 96 patients with early glottic cancer treated by radiation therapy. Of these, 73 had T1 and 23 had T2 tumor. The primary tumor was controlled in 82% of T1 and 74% of T2 lesions. Actuarial five-year survival rates were 87% for T1 and 74% for T2. Carcinoma of the anterior commissure associated with bilateral vocal cord involvement, subglottic tumor extension, persistent or recurrent laryngeal edema, and impaired cord mobility was found to adversely influence the prognosis. The data suggest that irradiation is the treatment of choice for glottic cancer limited to the vocal cords or with minimal extension to the anterior commissure or supraglottic larynx.

Postoperative radiotherapy for persistent tumor at the surgical margin in head and neck cancers.

Seventy-two patients with a carcinoma of the head and neck, who were treated with surgery and postoperative irradiation, were reviewed to determine the local recurrence rates and survival in patients with inadequate surgical margins. Tumor recurrence rate was 31% for patients with microscopic tumors at resection margins and 50% for those with macroscopic tumor. Actuarial 3-year survival for these patients was 71% and 43%, respectively. All 4 patients who were irradiated later than 6 weeks after surgery developed recurrent malignancy despite the resection margins being free of tumor. Excluding these patients the 3-year survival for R0 patients was similar to that of R1 patients. It is concluded that postoperative irradiation is effective in patients with tumor at the surgical margins. It is suggested that the time interval between surgery and radiation therapy be limited to less than 6 weeks. Radiation dose prescriptions for various clinical situations are discussed.

Laryngotracheal invasion by thyroid-carcinoma.

Laryngotracheal invasion by well-differentiated thyroid carcinoma is an uncommon occurrence. Recommendations for therapy have primarily included total laryngectomy or shaving of the tumor from laryngeal or tracheal cartilages. Clear guidelines have not been established for the applicability of partial laryngeal resections. In a retrospective analysis of patients with thyroid carcinoma, 13 patients had airway invasion. Of the five patients with laryngeal involvement, three were treated by a partial laryngeal resection. An experimental study was undertaken to determine more precisely the amount of cricoid cartilage which could be resected without reconstruction. Varying amounts of cricoid cartilage were resected. The results indicate that 25% of the cricoid cartilage may be resected without appreciable airway narrowing. On the basis of the retrospective analysis and experimental study, we feel a partial laryngeal resection is possible in most cases of airway invasion by thyroid carcinoma.

Stomal recurrence. A critical analysis of risk factors.

Stomal recurrence developed in 5% of the 507 patients who underwent total laryngectomy for a squamous cell carcinoma. The most common site of the primary tumor was the glottis, followed by the supraglottic and pyriform sinus regions. Initial subglottic extension of the tumor and metastatic lymphadenopathy were the most significant risk factors. The primary tumor size, prior emergency tracheostomy, and conservation surgical procedures had no effect on the incidence of stomal recurrence. The median survival in patients with stomal malignant neoplasms was only five months. In high-risk patients, extended dissection or elective postoperative radiotherapy is recommended.

Complications of postoperative and preoperative radiation therapy in head and neck cancers. A comparative study.

The complications of planned postoperative irradiation in 60 consecutive patients treated between 1975 and 1979 are compared with those seen in 92 patients treated with preoperative irradiation between 1968 and 1974. The overall rate of complications requiring additional hospitalization was 15% (nine patients) in the postoperative radiotherapy group as compared with 54% (50 patients) in the preoperative radiotherapy group. A statistically significant increase in acute complications was noted in the latter group (46 vs three, 50% vs 5%). Delayed complications occurred with similar frequency in both groups. The three-year survival was comparable between similar patients of each group treated with either of the two modalities. We favor postoperative irradiation because of decreased acute complications and comparable survival. Modifications of the treatment technique are suggested to minimize the overall rate of complications.

Thyroid carcinoma.

Differentiated thyroid carcinoma was studied with regard to mode of presentation, initial findings, treatment and survival. The classic signs, symptoms, physical and scan findings were found to be present in approximately 70% of the patients. Thirty percent of the patients had either unusual presentations or findings. Prognosis was found to be dependent on age of presentation more than any other factor. The effects of neck metastasis, extracapsular invasion and recurrent laryngeal nerve involvement on long-term survival are studied in detail. patients with prior exposure to radiation were found to have more extensive disease and require more extensive surgery but ultimately had the same prognosis for 15-year cure. Treatment for distant metastatic disease by surgery, radioactive iodine and external radiation all resulted in long-term survival in certain cases.

Evolution of the clinically negative neck.

A retrospective study was done of 602 patients with primary squamous cell carcinoma of the upper aerodigestive tract and a clinically negative neck (No) seen at the University of Illinois Hospital between 1960-1975. There was no uniform policy as to the treatment of No neck during this period; therefore in many of the patients, cervical lymph nodes were treated with elective neck dissection and others were followed until they became positive clinically. It was this difference which formed the basis for this study. All the patients were treated surgically; the patients were placed into two groups depending on whether they had radical neck dissection at the same time as resection of the primary. Group 1 consisted of 149 patients and had surgery for the primary only. The 253 patients of group 2 had surgery for the primary and also had a neck dissection. Both groups were analyzed for recurrences in the cervical region. In group 1, 12.9% of the patients developed either ipsilateral or contralateral metastases. Of the group 2 patients, 22% developed palpable nodal disease. The evolution of palpable nodal disease was analyzed by primary site, T-stage, and according to whether the tumor at the primary was controlled. Only 3% of the patients developed lymph nodes when the primary was controlled. The pathology reports of the neck specimens were studied to determine the relationship between a) positive node histology and b) number of nodes positive to the recurrence rate in the neck. Our results showed a 23% failure rate for the histologically positive group and a 21% failure rate for the negative group. The number of positive nodes did not seem to affect the recurrence rate.

Improved survival associated with postoperative wound infection in laryngeal cancer: an analysis of its therapeutic implications.

A retrospective analysis revealed improved survival rates in laryngeal cancer patients who had postoperative wound infection following total laryngectomy and radical neck resection. The overall five-year survival rates were 44% in the infection group and 31% in the control group. On further analysis, the beneficial effect of infection was most evident in patients with stage III disease. Seventy-three percent of these patients with wound infection were alive at five years, compared with 32% of the control group. The protection from recurrent cancer in these patients afforded by the bacterial contamination may be secondary to activated immune mechanisms. The therapeutic implications of our findings suggest that the immune adjuvant is given at the time of surgical treatment rather than when tumor burden is far advanced. Only a few such protocols are under analysis presently.

Otologic complications of radiation therapy.

Radiation therapy has proved to be a valuable modality in the management of patients with nasopharyngeal tumors. Routine follow-up of patients in the tumor clinic of the University of Illinois Eye and Ear Infirmary appeared to indicate an increasing incidence of otologic pathology. For this reason, a retrospective study focusing on the otologic findings in patients whose radiation therapy for nasopharyngeal tumors included the external auditory canal, middle ear space, or eustachian tube was performed. The results of this study are discussed in relationship to total radiation dosage, time of survival after therapy, and pretreatment otologic status. The complications covered a spectrum from intermittent serous otitis media to osteoradionecrosis of the external auditory canal. Possible contributing factors are discussed, and preventive neasures are suggested.

Tumors of the major salivary glands.

Tumors of the major salivary glands are reviewed according to classification, location, surgical procedure and end results. Our data of the incidence of benign and malignant tumors show that the most commonly involved area is the parotid gland and the most frequent is of the mixed variety. In the parotid region 80 percent are benign and 20 percent are malignant; whereas, in the submandibular gland, the malignant and benign tumors are equally distributed. The need for an extensive surgical attack and inclusion of contiguous structure is dictated by the nature of the malignant disease. The role of postoperative irradiation is discussed as is the indication for neck dissection. Management of the facial nerve, relative to malignant tumors of the parotid gland, is considered in detail.