Assessment of laryngeal cancer in patients younger than 40 years

Abstract

4. Laryngoscope, 128:1602-1605, 2018.

Presentation of second primary cancers in young laryngeal carcinoma patients

“…The survival figures of the young patients with LSCC did not differ from the general LSCC population in Finland, as is a similar finding in some other studies comparing the young and general cohorts (6,9), although others report a favorable survival in younger patients (7,8) . The 5-year DSS was 88% in the current study and 80% in the data recently published for Finnish LSCC patients in general (1).…”

“…Studies on young patients with LSCC are scarce as the condition is rare. In studies assessing young patients with LSCC, the age limit has commonly been set to 40 years or younger (2,6,7,9,13) and the number of patients in the individual series typically tends to be limited, ranging from 20 to 99 (6,7,10).This study presents general factors of all patients diagnosed with LSCC at the age of 40 years or under in Finland over a sixty-year period. Tumor stage and subsite distribution did not differ significantly from those previously reported for the general LSCC population in Finland (1).…”

“…LSCC is rare among young people under the age of 40 years, their occurring in less than 10 % of all LSCC patients (2,4,(6)(7)(8). Prognostic comparisons between young LSCC patients and the general LSCC population are inconsistent, perhaps due to small sample sizes, different outcome measures and age cut-offs (6,7,9,10). In general, LSCC recurs in up to 30% of patients (11,12).…”

“…Conventional risk factors such as tobacco smoking have been observed as being less common in young patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, including LSCC (4,7,9,13). This has led to the speculation of other potential etiological factors dominating in this patient group such as immunodeficiency, poor oral hygiene (10), genomic instability (4,14), reflux, Helicobacter pylori infection (15), and occupational carcinogens (4).…”

“…The present study is a survey of the nationwide Finnish Cancer Registry (FCR) data for all patients diagnosed with LSCC at the age of 40 years or under in Finland during 1953-2012 (n=151) representing one of the largest series on this topic (2,(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)13). In addition, an institutional series of patients treated at the Helsinki University Hospital (HUH) (n=35) during the years 1967-2014 is reviewed, to shed light on comorbidities and lifestyle factors, which were not available in the entire FCR.…”