A prognosis is a prediction of the outcome of one’s disease. How likely is survival? Will the cancer come back? These are the big questions on most people’s minds after receiving a diagnosis of supraglottic cancer. In general, there are several characteristics of the tumor that can inform a patient about their chances of being cured.
Factors That Affect Prognosis
Stage
This is the most important factor that affects a patient’s chance of being cured.
Site
The location and size of the tumor can affect the surgeon’s ability to resect the tumor with adequate margins of healthy tissue around it.
Type and Grade
Both the type and grade of the tumor determine the amount of treatment necessary and the ultimate prognosis.
Spread into Local Structures
Spread into large nerves, blood vessels, bones, or other structures can worsen prognosis.
Spread to Lymph Nodes
This helps determine stage, but even without other factors, spread to lymph nodes in the neck decreases the chance of cure, especially if there is evidence of cancer growth outside of the lymph node, known as extranodal extension (ENE+). The number, size, and location of lymph nodes are also important factors, as a low number of small lymph nodes may not increase a patient’s risk significantly.
Tumor Margins
The ability to completely remove the tumor with a margin of normal tissue around it is a very important factor in a patient’s prognosis.
While each of these factors contributes to one’s outcome, patients should have a discussion with their doctor to determine their overall prognosis. Giving a percentage of survival is extremely challenging because cancer research often looks at multiple types of cancer and may include a large range of patients who underwent a variety of treatments.
Survival Rates for Patients with Supraglottic Cancer
Localized disease to the supraglottic larynx
5-year relative survival rate
60%
Regional nodal spread
5-year relative survival rate
47%
Distant spread of disease
5-year relative survival rate
30%
Disclaimer: Estimated Disease-Specific Survival is the percentage of people with a specific cancer who are alive at a given time point, such as five years after diagnosis. It excludes people who may have died from a disease other than their cancer. While these estimates from large national databases are helpful, it is important to remember that these broad statistics may not apply to one’s individual situation.
