Treatments for early-stage laryngeal cancer

You may be offered the following treatments for early-stage (stages 1 and 2) 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. Radiation therapy is the main treatment for early-stage laryngeal cancer. If the tumour is above the vocal cords (supraglottic carcinoma), you may have radiation therapy for both the tumour and lymph nodes in your neck.

Find out more about radiation therapy for laryngeal cancer.

You may be offered surgery for early-stage laryngeal cancer. The type of surgery you have will depend on where the cancer is in the larynx.

For supraglottic carcinoma or cancer in the the vocal cords (glottic carcinoma), surgery may include:

• laser surgery to remove the tumour
• laryngectomy to remove part of the larynx
• cordectomy to remove part or all of the vocal cords

Surgery is not often used to treat early-stage cancer below the vocal cords (subglottic carcinoma) because radiation therapy is usually the only treatment needed. In rare cases, laser surgery is done after radiation therapy.

Find out more about surgery for laryngeal cancer.

Chemotherapy uses drugs to destroy cancer cells. Chemotherapy and radiation therapy given during the same time period is called chemoradiation.

If you had surgery to remove glottic carcinoma, chemoradiation is sometimes offered after surgery to reduce the risk of the cancer coming back (recurring).

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.