gms | German Medical Science

78th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

16.05. - 20.05.2007, Munich

Is the laryngectomia for an older patient a probate therapy option?

Meeting Abstract

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German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. 78th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Munich, 16.-20.05.2007. Düsseldorf, Köln: German Medical Science; 2007. Doc07hno041

The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.egms.de/en/meetings/hno2007/07hno041.shtml

Published: August 8, 2007

© 2007 Fritzsche et al.
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Outline

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The older patient is especially in our time a special challenge for doctors and it’s becoming more and more of importance.

This is mainly based on the occur of co-morbitities and also of the changing of the physiological processes in the human body. Accordingly, the decision of treatment is difficult to make.

Focus of this retrospective study is the laryngectomia versus the combined radio-chemical therapy of patients with a carcinoma of the larynx in the stage of T3 and T4.

In the years 1996 to 2006 120 patients, age 60 and older, received a laryngectomia. The exposed collective of patients consists of 96% of men and 4% of women. The median peak of age was in both groups between 60 to 75 years of age. In the stage of the carcinoma the majority of the patients with an operation did belong to T3 and the group of patients with combined radio-chemical therapy to T4.

In the evaluation of Kaplan-Meier, the collective with laryngectomia with a 5-year-survival had been 55% versus 25% in the collective with combined radio-chemical therapy.

Especially at a statistically life expectation of 79,2 years for men and 83,5 years for women, laryngectomia can be given priority, but only by exactly and strictly indication, concerning also older patients.

Priority of the study is the making of a therapy decision with a subtile consideration of all existing different therapy criteria and it is supposed to emphasize laryngectomia of older patients.

Summarized, the making of the therapy decision is always a single case, which is definitely not dependent of the calendary age, with the intention of extension of survival with an adequate quality of life.