Clinical presentation of 56 patients of carcinoma larynx admitted at services hospital lahore

Objective: to study the presenting clinical features of carcinoma larynx admitted and diagnosed at tertiary care hospital in lahore. material and methods: the study was conducted in the department of ent head& neck surgery lahore from june 2002 to december 2006. fifty six diagnosed cases of carcinoma larynx were included in the study. a detailed history was taken and a thorough physical examination performed on all patients. all patients were investigated including indirect laryngoscopy/idl,direct microlaryngoscopy /dl and biopsy for confirmation,ct scan/mri and findings recorded on proforma. results: among 56 patients,52(92.8%) were male and 4(7.2%) were female. the age ranged between 36-72 years with a mean age of 52.02 years. the majority of patients were between 45-65 years of age. forty eight patients 85.7%were smokers three of them also used alcohol and 8 (14.2%) patients had a positive family history of laryngeal cancer. the main symptoms were hoarseness/change in voice 52 (-92.86%),foreign body sensation/ globus pharygeous 32(60.7%),strider in 21(37.5%) neck lump 16 patients (28.57%) and dyspnea in 14(25%),dysphagia12(21.2%),throat pain 10(17.85%). clinically36 patients (64.3% patients presented with stage 1 and 2 and 20(35.7%) with stage 3 and 4 disease. the most common site involved was the glottic region 44.64%,followed by supraglottic 30.35%,transglottic 21.4% and subglottic area 3.57%. conclusion: incidence of carcinoma larynx is significantly higher in male smokers. hoarseness in smokers should be suspected for cancer of the larynx. early recognition of carcinoma larynx is a key factor to minimize the mortality and morbidity.