Auxiliary examinations for patients with laryngeal cancer

X-ray examination of the throat can reveal the location of the cancer and the extent of infiltration.

(1) Lateral laryngeal radiograph: This can provide a comprehensive understanding of the changes in the larynx and trachea, and better indicate the tumor infiltration in the preglottic space and subglottic area.

(2) Laryngeal tomography. It can compare the left and right sides and clearly show the size and range of the ventricular zone, laryngeal ventricle, and vocal cord tumors. It can also show whether the pyriform sinus is involved, which is also helpful for the diagnosis of subglottic tumors.

In addition to finding laryngeal neoplasms, laryngeal CT examination can also show hidden lesions in the mucosa, submucosa and deep parts. It can show the location, size and shape of the tumor, and can also check the extent of the tumor's extension to the subglottis. It can clearly show the laryngeal space, and the accuracy of diagnosing whether the tumor has invaded the pre-epiglottic space and paraglottic space can reach 100%; it can more accurately show the invasion of cartilage, which is helpful for correct clinical staging. CT examination can clearly show the boundaries and scope of the pyriform sinus tumor, so it can supplement some of the deficiencies of other examination methods in the diagnosis of pyriform sinus tumor. However, laryngeal CT scans also have their limitations, such as it is difficult to show the transition zone from the ventricular zone to the voice box; it is difficult to distinguish the primary site of the tumor; it cannot show mucosal lesions <0.5cm; irregular calcification or ossification of cartilage, especially thyroid cartilage, is often easily confused with tumor erosion, and edema and fibrosis of tissues adjacent to the tumor are often mistaken for tumor infiltration.

B-mode ultrasound examination is simple and safe and can show the anatomical relationship between lymph node metastases and neck blood vessels.