Management of laryngeal cancer with a laser has grown from a treatment strategy once derided as malpractice to a cornerstone that has become replete with complex considerations for laryngeal surgeons, according to panelists who discussed the history and the future of the use of the laser to treat throat cancer.
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May 2009But it is a strategy that has proven to be oncologically safe, as evidenced by multiple studies discussed by the group in a series of presentations that together formed a kind of tribute to the technology and those who have honed it.
Since the first treatment of a lesion on the larynx-a procedure first described in 1886, which involved a mirror and topical anesthesia with propane-the process has been highly fine-tuned, but it now presents more questions for the surgeons.