Laser debulking or tracheotomy in airway management prior to total laryngectomy for T4a laryngeal cancer

Purpose: Retrospective studies have shown that tracheotomy prior to total laryngectomy (TL) is associated with decreased survival. We sought to investigate whether this is due to higher local invasiveness associated with obstructive disease or whether it is the result of tracheotomy itself. Methods: We reviewed patients with a T4a (AJCC 7th edition) laryngeal squamous-cell carcinoma treated with a primary TL followed by adjuvant radiotherapy between 2001 and 2013. We compared patients who had obstructive lesions with those who had non-obstructive lesions in terms of preoperative data, pathological features, and treatment outcomes. Second, we compared tracheotomized patients with patients who underwent endoscopic laser debulking (ELD). Results: One hundred patients were reviewed. Thirty-seven of them required an airway intervention prior to a TL (tracheotomy n = 24/ELD n = 13). Patients with obstructive tumors had more frequently subglottic extension (p = 0.0066) and a shorter disease-free survival (DFS) (p = 0.046), due to a higher incidence of additional distant metastases. Tracheotomy was associated with a shorter DFS (p = 0.035) and more frequent perineural invasion (p = 0.0272) as compared to ELD, but not with a higher incidence of stomal recurrence. Conclusions: A tracheotomy prior to a total laryngectomy is associated with decreased survival. We recommend laser debulking as the preferred treatment whenever management of an obstructive airway is required prior to a total laryngectomy.