Laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma: Advanced disease

A computerized Ovid search of MEDLINE from 1966 to May 2004 was performed. The subject headings laryngectomy and quality of life were exploded and the resulting articles were cross-referenced, yielding 122 publications. These articles were then reviewed to identify those that met the following inclusion criteria: 1) patient population with primary laryngeal carcinoma, 2) intervention with open partial laryngectomy versus total laryngectomy, 3) outcome measured in terms of validated instruments measuring disease-specific quality of life (QOL). (Global QOL is addressed in the subsequent section, 31.A.ii.) Articles in which data from patients with laryngeal carciNoma were pooled with data from patients with oropharyngeal carcinoma were excluded. The one paper in which only two patients with hypopharyngeal carcinoma were pooled with 29 patients with purely laryngeal carcinoma was included. Articles in which results for either total laryngectomy alone or partial laryngectomy alone were reported, without comparative/controlled data, were also excluded. Reports using instruments that had Not been validated (i.e., untested questionnaires) were excluded.