Serial Microscopic Studies of Radical Neck Dissections: Studies in a Combined Radiation and Surgery Program for Advanced Cancer of the Larynx and Laryngopharynx

COMBINED therapy, a unified plan of 5,500 rads cobalt 60 teletherapy followed by surgery, was initiated in 1958 in the Department of Otolaryngology at The Mount Sinai Hospital as the treatment for advanced squamous cell cancer of the larynx and laryngopharynx. Previous publications have described the program, two- and three-year survival rates, and the microscopic appearance of serial laryngeal specimens.1-3 This paper will present five-year survival rates and other pertinent data on 48 patients treated with combined therapy for cancer of the larynx and laryngopharynx. Microscopic studies of radical neck dissection specimens will be described, and an effort will be made to explain the clinical results from these findings. Material and Method Between November 1958 and October 1967, 48 patients were treated with combined therapy. Nineteen were followed for more than five years, 28 for more than three years, and 37 for more than two years. No patient has