Transoral Laser Microsurgery Versus Radiotherapy for T1-T2 Glottic Cancer with Anterior Commissure Involvement: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Objective: To identify the most effective treatment modality for achieving favorable outcomes in early glottic tumors with anterior commissure involvement (ACI).

Data sources: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, and ScienceDirect.

Review methods: Random-effects proportional meta-analysis model is used to evaluate the oncological and functional outcomes of transoral laser microsurgery (TLM) versus radiation therapy (RT) in early glottic (T1-T2) cancer with ACI.

Results: From a total of 736 studies, 40 studies were included, comprising 2666 early glottic tumor patients with ACI. TLM (52%) and upfront RT (48%) were the primary treatment groups. TLM had better 5-year overall survival (OS) (84.5% [80.3%-88.0%] vs. 79.4% [75.7%-82.7%]). Similarly, TLM-treated patients had better 3-year pooled disease-free survival (DFS) compared with RT-treated patients (82.7% [77.1%-87.1%] vs. 73.3% [23.8%-96.0%]). TLM exhibited a better 5-year local control rate (LCR) than RT (77.2% vs. 71.6%). In our temporal analysis, TLM had a higher 5-year LCR than RT (78.2% vs. 63.5%) in 2001-2012, with similar rates in 2013-2024 (76.8% vs. 78.4%). TLM-treated patients had higher laryngeal preservation rates compared with RT patients (93% [90.6%-94.8%] vs. 87.6% [82.8%-91.2%]).

Conclusions: Our meta-analysis is the first in the literature to compare the outcomes between TLM and RT-treated patients with ACI in early glottic tumors. TLM-treated patients appear to have superior 5-year OS and laryngeal preservation compared with upfront RT-treated patients. However, both TLM and RT exhibited comparable oncological outcomes in early glottic tumor patients with ACI during the recent period from 2013 to 2024. Laryngoscope, 2025.