The incidence of XXXX following radiotherapy for early stage carcinoma of the larynx.

@entity1 @entity1375 @entity5 @entity922 @entity1374
External beam radiotherapy is currently the commonest form of treatment for early @entity5 (T1/2) and @entity1374 is a well recognised complication of this treatment. @entity1375 is a specific @entity922 which in most @entity1 will be recognized and treated. The problems associated with @entity1375 (elevated TSH with normal T4), however, are only now being recognized and their management is to some extent still controversial. The aims of our study are to determine the incidence of clinical and @entity1375 in those who have been treated solely with curative radiotherapy for early @entity5 . We performed a retrospective observational study encompassing all @entity1 who underwent curative radiotherapy for T1/T2 @entity5 between 1998 and 2002. 33 @entity1 were identified (mean 66.85  years, range 48-93). 19 @entity1 had T1 lesions (58%), 14 had T2 lesions (42%) and 27 were N0 (82%). 23 @entity1 were euthyroid post treatment (70%), 2 became @entity1375 (6%) and 8 developed @entity1375 (24%). There was no association between @entity5 stage (p  =  0.97), nodal stage (p  =  0.46) and thyroid status, however, there was an association between increasing age and deteriorating thyroid function (p  =  0.01). Our study showed that of @entity1 with early @entity5 treated solely with curative radiotherapy 24% developed @entity1375 and 6% were @entity1375 (Elevated TSH and reduced T4). We feel @entity1 should receive regular thyroid function testing following completion of treatment and should be adequately counselled on the risk of @entity1374 following radiotherapy at pre-treatment visits.
