Functional or radical surgical treatment of laryngeal chondrosarcoma, analysis of survival and prognostic factors: A REFCOR and NetSarc-ResOs multicenter study of 74 cases

Introduction: Laryngeal chondrosarcoma (LCS) is a rare tumor of slow evolution whose treatment is poorly codified. For a long time, a radical treatment by total laryngectomy (TL) was proposed. More recent studies tend to propose a conservative surgical approach of the larynx. The objective of this study was to compare the overall survival (OS) of total laryngectomized patients (TL+) versus non-laryngectomized patients (TL-). The secondary objectives were to analyse the reoperation free survival (RFS), the total laryngectomy free survival (TLFS) and to identify the preoperative factors leading surgeons to propose TL. Materials and methods: A retrospective analysis of prospectively collected incident cases from the REFCOR and NetSarc-ResOs multicenter databases between March 1997 and June 2021 was conducted. A propensity score matching analysis was performed to compare the OS of TL+ and TL-patients. Results: 74 patients were included. After propensity score, the 5-year OS of TL+ and TL-patients was comparable (100 %, p = 1). The 5-year RFS rate was 69.2 % (95 % CI [57.5–83.4]) and the 5-year TLFS was 61.7 % (95 % CI [50.4–75.5]). Cricoid involvement greater than 50 % (HR 3.58; IC 95 % [1.61–7.92] p < 0.001), an ASA score of 3 or 4 (HR 5.07; IC 95 % [1.64–15.67] p = 0.009) and involvement of several cartilages (HR 5.26; IC 95 % [1.17–23.6] p = 0.04) are prognostic factors for TL. Dyspnea caused by the tumour is a prognostic factor for reoperation (HR 2.59; IC 95 % [1.04–6.45] p = 0.03). Conclusion: These results demonstrate that conservative treatment should be considered as first-line treatment for laryngeal chondrosarcoma.