Determine the Incidence of Subclinical Lymph Node Metastases in Laryngeal Cancer

Objective: Lymph node metastases in laryngeal cancer are an important prognostic factor. The aim of our work is to determine the incidence of subclinical lymph node metastases in laryngeal cancer, their therapeutic and prognostic impact, the lymph node territories involved and the usefulness of retrospinal curage in laryngeal cancer.

Materials and Methods: A retrospective study that took place over a 9-month period between January and September 2022 included 40 cases of glotto-sus-glottic cancer initially classified as N0 and presenting with lymph node invasion.

Results: Occult metastases were found in 15 patients, with 28.54% of cases cN0 converted to pN2b in over 50% of cases in ipsilateral territory III.

Conclusion: High rate of occult lymph node metastases in glotto-sus-glottic cancers, involvement of sectors IIa and IV in laryngeal cancers is infrequent and often associated with other sectors, hyper-selective cervical curage (IIa and III) seems justified for glottic and/or supra-glottic tumors classified as T1N0 or T2N0. In the case of advanced tumours (T3 or T4), involvement of the HTE lodge or cartilage infiltration, occult lymph node invasion is more frequent, necessitating functional curage.