Early Outcomes of Transoral Laser Microsurgery for T1-T2 Oropharyngeal Cancer

Abstract

The optimal treatment strategy for oropharyngeal carcinoma is highly debated. However, growing evidence supports the use of minimally invasive techniques, such as Transoral Laser Microsurgery (TLM), as a first-line treatment modality for these carcinomas. The purpose of our study was to assess the efficacy and safety of TLM for the treatment of early oropharyngeal carcinomas. This is a prospectively observational study of 30 early stages (T1/T2) oropharyngeal cancer patients who underwent transoral laser microsurgery from January 2016 to March 2019. 30 patients of early-staged oropharyngeal carcinoma (19 tongues, 5 soft palates, 4 tonsils and 2 posterior pharyngeal walls) were included in this study. 19 (63.3%) patients were male and 11 (36.7%) were female. The mean age was 54.8 years (± 10.6 years). 76.7% tumours are T1 and 23.3% T2. The bleeding complications occurred in 2 patients. The most frequent complication of TLM was bleeding. 30% of patients had normal voices and a further 63.3% had only mild or moderate voice change. At their last follow up, no patients had any difficulty in breathing or swallowing. TLM is a safe, minimally invasive and effective method in the treatment for early oropharyngeal cancer