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Treatment outcome of vocal cord leukoplakia by transoral laser microsurgery

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Abstract

The aim of this study is to evaluate the treatment outcome and analyze the associated factors of postoperative recurrence in patients who received transoral laser microsurgery for vocal cord leukoplakia. The demographic, histopathological data were retrospectively reviewed and the factors associated with recurrence of vocal leukoplakia after surgery were analyzed statistically. A total of 44 patients, including 36 males and 8 females, with a mean age of 50.4 ± 13.4 years, were enrolled. All the patients received excision of the vocal leukoplakia by carbon dioxide laser (2–4 Watt, ultrapulse mode) under general anesthesia. No patients had malignant transformation after surgery. Postoperative recurrence occurred in 10 patients (22.7 %). Univariate analysis showed that patients who had the habit of cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking, and presence of gastroesophageal reflux disease tended to recur. Among these risk factors, presence of gastroesophageal reflux disease (odds ratio 8.43) was the independent prognostic factor for recurrence using multivariate logistic regression analysis. Carbon dioxide laser excision is effective for treating vocal leukoplakia that is still confined to dysplasia of any degree, with acceptable morbidity. This study suggests that the presence of gastroesophageal reflux disease is the prognostic indicator for postoperative recurrence of vocal leukoplakia. Aggressive treatment of reflux disease for those who have received surgical excision for vocal leukoplakia is indicated.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank all the members of the Cancer Center, Keelung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, for their invaluable help.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung. No. 222, Mai Chin Road, Keelung 204, Taiwan

    Shih-Wei Yang, Wei-Chieh Chao, Tai-An Chen & Cheng-Ming Luo

  2. School of Medicine, Chang Gung University College of Medicine, Taoyuan, Taiwan

    Shih-Wei Yang, Wei-Chieh Chao, Liang-Che Chang, Tsan-Yu Hsieh, Tai-An Chen & Cheng-Ming Luo

  3. Genomic Medicine Research Core Laboratory, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan

    Yun-Shien Lee

  4. Department of Biotechnology, Ming Chuan University, Tao-Yuan, Taiwan

    Yun-Shien Lee

  5. Department of Pathology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Keelung, Taiwan

    Liang-Che Chang & Tsan-Yu Hsieh

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  1. Shih-Wei Yang
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  2. Wei-Chieh Chao
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Correspondence to Cheng-Ming Luo.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

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No financial funding.

Ethical approval and informed consent

The Institutional Review Board of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital has approved this study (certificate number: 104-A229B). Due to the retrospective nature of this study, the ethical committee did not require any written informed consent and waived the need for informed consent from the enrolled patients.

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Yang, SW., Chao, WC., Lee, YS. et al. Treatment outcome of vocal cord leukoplakia by transoral laser microsurgery. Lasers Med Sci 32, 19–27 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-016-2078-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10103-016-2078-5

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