J Korean Soc Ther Radiol Oncol.  2009 Dec;27(4):201-209. 10.3857/jkstro.2009.27.4.201.

A Retrospective Study of the Radiotherapy Care Patterns for Patients with Laryngeal Cancer and Comparison of Different Korean Hospitals Treated from 1998 through 1999

• Chung WK
• Kim IH
• Yoon MS
• Ahn SJ
• Nam TK
• Song JY
• Chung JU
• Nah BS
• Lee JK
• Wu HG
• Lee CG
• Lee SW
• Park W
• Ahn YC
• Kang KM
• Kim JS
• Oh YK
• Cho MJ
• Park WY
• Kim JH
• Choi DH
• Yun HG
• Kim WC
• Yang DS
• Sohn SC
• Suh HS
• Ahn KJ
• Chun M
• Lee KC
• Choi YM
• Jeung TS
• Kang JO

• KMID: 2003433
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.3857/jkstro.2009.27.4.201

Abstract

PURPOSE
To investigate the care patterns for radiation therapy and to determine inter-hospital differences for patients with laryngeal carcinoma in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 237 cases of laryngeal carcinoma (glottis, 144; supraglottis, 93) assembled from 23 hospitals, who underwent irradiation in the year of 1998 and 1999, were retrospectively analyzed to investigate inter-hospital differences with respect to radiotherapy treatment. We grouped the 23 hospitals based on the number of new patients annually irradiated in 1998; and designated them as group A (> or =900 patients), group B (> or =400 patients and <900 patients), and group C (<400 patients). RESULTS: The median age of the 237 patients was 62 years (range, 25 to 88 years), of which 216 were male and 21 were female. The clinical stages were distributed as follows: for glottis cancer, I; 61.8%, II; 21.5%, III; 4.2%, IVa; 11.1%, IVb; 1.4%, and in supraglottic cancer, I; 4.3%, II; 19.4%, III; 28.0%, IVa; 43.0%, IVb; 5.4%, respectively. Some differences were observed among the 3 groups with respect to the dose calculation method, radiation energy, field arrangement, and use of an immobilization device. No significant difference among 3 hospital groups was observed with respect to treatment modality, irradiation volume, and median total dose delivered to the primary site. CONCLUSION: This study revealed that radiotherapy process and patterns of care are relatively uniform in laryngeal cancer patients in Korean hospitals, and we hope this nationwide data can be used as a basis for the standardization of radiotherapy for the treatment of laryngeal cancer.

Keyword

Laryngeal cancer; Radiotherapy; Patterns of care

MeSH Terms

Female
Glottis
Humans
Immobilization
Korea
Laryngeal Neoplasms
Male
Retrospective Studies