Head & Neck Oncology Program

Laryngeal Cancer

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Symptoms and Diagnosis

Hoarseness is the primary symptom of glottic cancer, cancer of the vocal cords. Symptoms of supraglottic (above the vocal cords) and subglottic (below the vocal cords) cancers include:

Cancers in the supraglottis and subglottis tend to spread more quickly than glottic cancer, because the supraglottis and subglottis contain more lymph vessels, through which cancer cells spread.

If a patient has symptoms of cancer of the larynx, the doctor will put a tube with a special light on the end of it down the patient’s throat to look at the larynx. This procedure is called laryngoscopy. If the larynx has tissue that does not look normal, the doctor will need to cut out a small piece of the tissue and look at it under the microscope to see if it contains any cancer cells. This procedure is called a biopsy, and it is the only way to confirm a cancer diagnosis. The doctor will also feel the patient’s throat for lumps.

The chance of recovery (prognosis) from laryngeal cancer depends on where the cancer is in the larynx, whether the cancer is just in the larynx or has spread to other tissues (the stage), and the patient’s general state of health.


This page was last updated on: March 3, 2008.