Treatments for advanced laryngeal cancer

You may be offered the following treatments for advanced (stage 4) laryngeal cancer. Your healthcare team will suggest treatments based on your needs and work with you to develop a treatment plan.

Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays or particles to destroy cancer cells. Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. Radiation therapy combined with chemotherapy (called chemoradiation) is a standard treatment for advanced laryngeal cancer that has spread (metastasized) to other parts of the body.

If you canʼt tolerate chemoradiation because of the side effects or other health issues, you may have radiation therapy or chemotherapy on its own or after surgery.

Find out more about radiation therapy and chemotherapy for laryngeal cancer.

You may be offered surgery for advanced laryngeal cancer.

The type of surgery you have will depend on where the cancer is in the larynx (voice box). If cancer is above the vocal cords (supraglottic carcinoma) or in the vocal cords (glottic carcinoma), surgery may include:

• endoscopic laser surgery to remove the tumour
• laryngectomy to remove all or part of the larynx
• surgery to remove lymph nodes in the neck

If cancer is below the vocal cords (subglottic carcinoma), surgery may include a laryngectomy and removal of the thyroid (called a thyroidectomy) and lymph nodes in the neck.

Find out more about surgery for laryngeal cancer.

Radiation therapy uses high-energy rays or particles to destroy cancer cells. Radiation therapy may be used to destroy cancer cells left behind after surgery (called adjuvant therapy).

Find out more about radiation therapy for laryngeal cancer.

Immunotherapy helps to strengthen or restore the immune system’s ability to fight cancer. Immunotherapy may be used to treat advanced supraglottic carcinoma.

Pembrolizumab (Keytruda) may be used as a first-line therapy. It is sometimes offered with chemotherapy.

Nivolumab (Opdivo) may be used if the cancer has stopped responding to chemotherapy with platinum drugs such as cisplatin or carboplatin.

Find out more about immunotherapy for laryngeal cancer.

Targeted therapy uses drugs to target specific molecules (such as proteins) on cancer cells or inside them to stop the growth and spread of cancer. Targeted therapy may be used to treat advanced cancer in the supraglottis.

Cetuximab (Erbitux) may be used with radiation therapy. It's offered if you canʼt tolerate chemotherapy with platinum drugs such as cisplatin or carboplatin.

Find out more about targeted therapy for laryngeal cancer.

Talk to your doctor about clinical trials open to people with laryngeal cancer in Canada. Clinical trials look at new ways to prevent, find and treat cancer.

Find out more about clinical trials.