Supracricoid laryngectomy: is it time to define guidelines to evaluate functional results? a review.

PURPOSE: Supracricoid laryngectomy (SCL) permits local control and 5-year survival rates similar to total laryngectomy in selected cases of advanced-stage laryngeal carcinoma. Although most of the reports regarding the surgical technique and oncological results have been proposed by European groups, increased interest in SCL has also been shown in recent years by American surgeons. There is still a lack of comprehensive studies about functional outcomes (respiration, deglutition, phonation) after SCL. Materials and methods This report briefly evaluates the functional outcomes of SCL recorded by the Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery of Padua University since 1998 and critically reviews recent English-language literature describing SCL functional results. RESULTS: The present review confirms that the available data on functional results were collected using heterogeneous methods, parameters, and evaluation scales. CONCLUSIONS: Every effort has to be made to uniform the format for presenting outcome data, particularly on swallowing and voice parameters. Defining guidelines to evaluate the functional results of SCL may facilitate interstudy comparability.