Radiotherapy vs surgery for T1-2N0M0 laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma: A population-based and propensity score matching study

Abstract

There are conflicting reports about whether radiotherapy or surgery is optimal for early-stage laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC), although both have recently been recommended. Patients with T1-2N0M0 LSCC in the population-based SEER database who underwent radiotherapy or surgery were reviewed. Propensity score matching was used to eliminate the baseline variations. After matching, 1913 pairs of patients were included. Overall, patients who received radiotherapy had worse cancer-specific survival than patients with surgery. After stratification, the survival in patients who received radiotherapy was worse with respect to the following characteristics: ≤60 years of age; T1a glottis cancer; well-differentiated tumors; and with married status. In other patients, survival outcomes were similar in patients who received radiotherapy and underwent surgery. Our results indicate that radiotherapy is not preferable in early-stage LSCC patients who are ≤60 years of age, have T1a glottis cancer or well-differentiated tumors, or are married. In other patients, both radiotherapy and surgery are comparable. However, our results cannot be a reference before controlled, prospective trials are performed.