Objective: To evaluate local recurrence, overall survival, disease-free survival, and voice quality after CO2 laser and open surgery for T1 vocal cord carcinoma.
Subjects and methods: A retrospective descriptive study of 258 patients with T1 vocal cord cancer who underwent CO2 laser and open surgery at the National Otorhinolaryngology Hospital from January 2020 to June 2025.
Results: The recurrence rate was 2.5% in the laser group and 8.3% in the open surgery group; the average time to recurrence was 16.1 months; the disease-free survival time was 68.1 months in the laser group and 65.3 months in the open surgery group; the 3-year disease-free survival rate was 97.5% in the laser group and 91.7% in the open surgery group; the average overall survival time was 70.4 months. The overall 3-year survival rate for the laser group was 98.9%, while for the open surgery group it was 98.5%; the VHI-10 score for the laser group was 18.43 ± 4.98 points (a decrease of 7.99 ± 5.15 points compared to pre-surgery), and for the open surgery group it was 19.85 ± 4.62 points (a decrease of 7.91 ± 4.21 points compared to pre-surgery).
Conclusion: CO2 laser surgery shows advantages over open surgery in terms of cancer outcomes and speech function in T1 vocal cord cancer.