Chinese doctors have found a way to partially remove the upper-glottis of a throat cancer patient, rather than completely removing it as is the more common treatment.
The group of doctors in northeast China's Liaoning Province discovered the method of dividing the cancer-affected upper-glottis into five sub-sections, according to Prof. Pan Zimin, head of the research group.
The finding sanctioned a partial removal operation which could save a patient's vocal cords while assuring a safe cure, the professor said.
About 70 percent of cases of throat cancer, or larynx cancer, grow around vocal cords, and usually transfer via lymphatic vessels to the lymph node at the neck, a major contributing factor to the death of the patients, according to the doctor.
In most operations, therefore, vocal cords were completely excised to avoid recurrence. The new theory of sub-sectioning has helped patients retain part of their upper-glottis and most are able to recover their throat function, Pan said.
(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2003)
