Introduction: We aimed to analyze the relationship between the changed status of vocal cord mobility and survival outcomes. Methods: Seventy-eight patients with dysfunctional vocal cords and hypopharyngeal carcinomas accepted non-surgical treatment as the initial therapy between May 2009 and December 2016. Vocal cord mobility was assessed before and after the initial non-surgical treatment. The cord mobility status was classified as normal, impaired, and fixed. Patients with improved mobility (IM) (n =56) were retrospectively analyzed for disease-free survival (DFS), recurrence-free survival (RFS), and overall survival (OS) and compared with 22 patients with non-improved mobility (non-IM). Results: Fifty-six (71.8%) patients had improved cord mobility after the initial non-surgical treatment. The non-improved cord mobility was significantly associated with shortened DFS (P=0.005), RFS (P=0.002), and OS (P<0.001). If non-improved cord mobility was regarded as an indicator for local-regional recurrence within 1 year, the sensitivity and the specificity were 60.9%, 87.5% respectively. The multivariate analysis showed that improved cord mobility (P=0.006) and salvage surgery (P=0.015) were both independent protective factors for OS. Conclusion: Changes in cord mobility are a key marker for predicting prognosis. Non-improved cord mobility may indicate a high possibility of a residual tumor, therefore, patients whose cord mobility remains dysfunctional or worsens after non-surgical treatment might need an aggressive salvage strategy.
CITATION STYLE
He, Y. Q., Zhang, X. W., Zhu, Y. M., Ni, X. G., Huang, Z. H., An, C. M., … Liu, S. Y. (2021). Posttreatment Non-Improved Vocal Cord Mobility Indicates the Need of Salvage Surgery for Hypopharyngeal Carcinomas. Frontiers in Oncology, 10. https://doi.org/10.3389/fonc.2020.600599
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