OU: quitting smoking 4 times more likely to cure laryngeal cancer

Laryngeal cancer patients can significantly improve their chances of survival by quitting smoking before starting therapy. This is what a study by researchers at the University of Oklahoma (OU) has shown.

There are many studies showing that smoking is associated with a worse prognosis in laryngeal cancer. In the new paper, the scientists focused on people who quit smoking after learning of their diagnosis. A few weeks after their cancer diagnosis, the patients received radiation therapy or underwent surgery.

Those who quit smoking before treatment were almost four times more likely to have a full response to treatment, meaning doctors could not find any signs of cancer in them. This reduced the risk of having to have their larynx removed and a voice box fitted by 50 per cent. This procedure is used when conventional treatments fail. It is accompanied by a reduced quality of life and difficulty swallowing.

In addition, those who quit smoking lived longer. At three years of treatment, 83% of those who quit smoking and 66% of those who continued to smoke were alive. After five years, 79 per cent of quitters and 60 per cent of smokers survived, and after seven years, 75 per cent versus 56 per cent.

The scientists believe that people diagnosed with laryngeal cancer need intensive smoking cessation programmes. They plan to evaluate their effectiveness in a new study.

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