Laryngeal cancer management in a small, rural, multidisciplinary team setting: 15-year review

Background: The Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle, serves a largely remote, rural population of 330 000. The aim of this study was to report the treatment and survival figures for patients treated for laryngeal cancer at this centre. Methods: The study included 209 consecutive patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the larynx diagnosed between 1996 and 2010 at the Cumberland Infirmary. Results: Disease-specific survival was 100 per cent for stage one, 76 per cent for stage two, 87 per cent for stage three and 46 per cent for stage four. In total, 76 patients (36 per cent) had a laryngectomy, either as primary treatment or as a salvage procedure. Conclusion: Our tumour-specific survival rate was very high, and this success may be due in part to high rates of surgical intervention. Survival data compared favourably with other centres, despite less radical radiotherapy regimes. Laryngeal cancer can be managed effectively in a small, relatively remote, multidisciplinary team setting.