Laryngeal Cancer Neck Node Metastases: Patterns of Spread

Objective: To determine the patterns of neck node metastases of patients with laryngeal carcinoma in our institution. Methods: Design: Chart Review Setting: Tertiary Public Hospital Subjects: Records of thirty-eight (38) laryngeal cancer patients who underwent laryngectomy with neck dissection from January 2010 to January 2017 were considered. Results: Records of 34 laryngeal cancer patients with ages ranging from 45-72 years old were included. The most common subsite was the glottis, with 19 (55.88%) patients. The distribution of neck node metastases for all subsites were 0/64 (0%) for level I, 22/64 (34.37%) for level II, 12/64 (18.75%) for level III, 7/64 (10.93%) for level IV, 0/64 (0%) for level V, and 1/64 (1.56%) for level VI. Distributions of lymph nodes per subsite for supraglottic SCCA were 0 (0%) for level I, 3/22 (13.63%) for level II, 2/12 (16.66%) for level III, 1/7 (14.28%) for level IV, 0 (0%) for level V, and 0/1 (0%) for level VI. For glottic SCCA, they were 0 (0%) for level I, 12/22 (54.54%) for level II, 8/12 (66.66%) for level III, 3/7 (42.85%) for level IV, 0 (0%) for level V, and 1/1 (100%) for level VI; and for transglottic SCCA, they were 0 (0%) for level I, 7/22 (31.81%) for level II, 5/12 (41.66%) for level III, 3/7 (42.85%) for level IV, 0 (0%) for level V, and 0/1 (0%) for level VI. Conclusion: Our findings show that neck node levels II, III, and IV are most frequently affected in laryngeal carcinoma patients in our sample, and may guide recommendations for neck dissection in our institution. Keywords: Laryngeal Cancer, Metastases, Neck dissection, Supraglottic, Subglottic, Glottic, Transglottic