Laryngeal cancer is a fairly common condition. It makes up 3.5% of malignancies that...

It is treated by removal of the tumor with Laser, surgical treatment – Lymph node cleansing or radiation

It appears with hoarseness and less often with cough, difficulty swallowing, and hemoptysis.

If it appears with pain, the stage is usually more advanced and it is difficult to treat.

Cancer of the larynx usually occurs in the glottis (vocal cords) while it is very rare in the epiglottis or subglottis. It can spread directly to nearby tissues by metastasis to nearby lymph nodes or hematogenous to distant tissues.

A very common metastasis is in the lung.

The causes of developing laryngeal cancer are smoking and alcohol. It has been found that the consumption of alcohol increases 3 times the probability of occurrence of this particular cancer.

As for smoking, smoking a pack of cigarettes for more than 40 years increases the risk more than 40 times compared to non-smokers.

Other causes of laryngeal cancer are gastroesophageal reflux disease, a family history of laryngeal cancer, exposure to toxic substances, and HPV.

Also, people who abuse their voice such as singers, actors, and teachers, develop polyps that can turn malignant.

Diagnosing laryngeal cancer begins with a good clinical examination, taking a history of alcohol and cigarette use, and a laryngoscopy to get a good picture of the larynx.

CT and MRI give us valuable information and details about the location of the tumor and PET SCAN informs us about any metastases.

The exact diagnosis is done by micro laryngoscopy under general anesthesia where with the use of a microscope pieces are taken for biopsy to make the exact diagnosis.