Understand the 3 stages of laryngeal cancer development

Laryngeal cancer is a malignant tumor that occurs in the laryngeal mucosal epithelium. It can develop from squamous epithelium or respiratory epithelium. Its evolution process is divided into the following stages: precancerous lesions, carcinoma in situ, and invasive cancer. Of course, not every patient will necessarily have all three stages.

Precancerous lesions

Although some chronic laryngeal lesions are benign, they are prone to canceration under certain factors and are called "precancerous lesions", among which the main ones are vocal cord leukoplakia and laryngeal papilloma.

The former is a white plaque formed by epithelial hyperplasia and keratin accumulation on the vocal cords; the latter is a papillary neoplasm in the larynx, which has also been found in children. It is easy to relapse after surgical resection and is prone to malignant transformation in middle-aged and elderly patients. Laryngeal papilloma is a tumor between benign and malignant. Regular and close follow-up observation should be carried out. If necessary, local tissue should be taken for pathological examination. Especially when the pathological report shows active cell growth and atypical hyperplasia, it should be more vigilant.

Carcinoma in situ

Carcinoma in situ generally belongs to the early stage of cancer, which means that the cancer is limited to the epithelial layer of the laryngeal mucosa, the basement membrane is intact or basically intact, and there is no infiltration of the connective tissue. However, if the biopsy sample is too superficial or taken from the area adjacent to the cancerous area, it is easy to misdiagnose invasive cancer as carcinoma in situ.

Invasive carcinoma

When the basement membrane is penetrated, it enters the invasive cancer stage. At this time, the cancer develops rapidly and invades normal laryngeal tissue structures such as connective tissue, muscle, and cartilage. In particular, supraglottic laryngeal cancer develops and metastasizes faster, which is related to the poor differentiation of cancer cells in this area, but the rich blood supply and lymphatic vessels; there are fewer blood vessels and lymphatic vessels in the glottis area, so the development and metastasis of this type of laryngeal cancer is relatively slow; cancer originating in the subglottic area is rare, but its location is hidden and difficult to detect in the early stage, so the prognosis is poor.