Laser Surgery for Vocal Cord Lesions and Cancer

What is a laser?

Laser surgery is the use of a concentrated laser beam of a specific wavelength in surgery.

What are its advantages?

• It cuts tissue without charring it, so there is less swelling after surgery and healing is faster and smoother. Functions of the operated area (such as voice and swallowing) recover more quickly.
• Surgical incisions can be made at least as precisely as with a scalpel, and in some cases even more precisely. This makes sharper, cleaner incisions possible in smaller areas. In small, hard-to-reach areas such as the vocal cords, it gives better results than conventional scalpels.
• There is no bleeding or very little bleeding during surgery, so the operation can be performed faster, more easily and better.
• In surgery for laryngeal (voice box) cancer, the cancerous tissue can be removed without the need for a tracheotomy (an opening made in the neck for breathing). The patient’s hospital stay is shorter, no scar remains on the neck, voice impairment is minimal, and swallowing, breathing and eating return to normal on the same day.
• When performed by experienced surgeons, results at least as good as conventional surgery can be achieved.
• With a laser, cutting, vaporizing and stopping bleeding can all be performed with extreme precision using a single device.
• After the procedure, the patient’s quality of life improves much faster and better than with other methods.

For which ear, nose and throat conditions is it used?

• Benign vocal cord lesions (such as nodules, polyps, edema and papillomas)
• Vocal cord cancer and other cancers of the larynx
• Vocal cord paralysis (it may become possible to close an opening made in the neck for breathing.)
• Benign tumors and cancers of the tongue, inside of the mouth, pharynx and facial skin
• Middle ear surgery (for stapedotomy)
• Reduction of the turbinates (nasal conchae)