Hi Zarker

I had severe displacia of the vocal chords around 5 years ago and was told that I needed laser treatment immediately as it "was very close to cancer". I had laser treatment a few times and had to have biopsies done around every 2 - 3 months but in my case it had gone too deep so they could only laser the surface and it kept coming back. If you are a smoker you should give it up immediately as my consultant told me to avoid smoke at all costs.

I went on to have larygneal cancer but I was stage T2-3 when I was eventually diagnosed. I was successfully treated with radiotherapy 28 months ago and touch wood everything is fine and my voice is better than it's been for years.

On a positive note they are closely monitoring you and as you are at a very early stage hopefully they will be able to get rid of it with laser treatment alone.

I wish you well and hope that the next laser treatment will be the end of it.

Marion x

Hi Marion ,

Thanks very much for your reply it was most helpful. I hope you don't mind me asking but how long was it from when they found displacia to you being diagnosed with laryngeal cancer? As this is what I think may be happening to me. They said inicially It could be treated with laser alone and after my last laser treatment yesterday that the return was on the surface only and did not warrant rdiotherapy at the moment and he had done deeper biopsys which he says hes sure arn't cancerous. This has as you know been a very difficult time for me as i'm so scared of loosing my voice or having to have a laryngectomy which I've been told is unlikely. i'm reassured to know that after your treatment your voice is now good. Thank you again and I hope you continue to do well. Andy

p,s gave up smoking 5 years ago and after this will never go back to it!

Hi Andy

I hope my reply hasn't made you feel that it is inevitable that it will go on to be cancer as I'm sure that is not the case. I had displacia for around 2-3 years and during that time I had around 9 biopsies to keep checking. It was a bit of a roller coster ride - one visit everything would be fine and then next I'd be rushed in for a biopsy!

Like you, the thought of losing my voicebox fills me with dread. I still worry about it now although as time goes by it gets easier as the risk of a reoccurence lessens with time. I opted for radical radiotherapy - 3 times a day over 2 and a half weeks instead of once a day for 6 weeks. I lost my voice for around 2 months during and after treatment but as I said, when it finally came back it was my "old" voice (having been husky for years).

Like you, I was in the fortunate position of being closely monitored so that when it eventually turned to cancer, they caught it early. I was given a 95% success rate so I am trying to be positive that it won't come back.

Take care and if you have any questions feel free as I usually come on this site a few times a week.

Marion x

Hi Andy

I hope my reply hasn't made you feel that it is inevitable that it will go on to be cancer as I'm sure that is not the case. I had displacia for around 2-3 years and during that time I had around 9 biopsies to keep checking. It was a bit of a roller coster ride - one visit everything would be fine and then next I'd be rushed in for a biopsy!

Like you, the thought of losing my voicebox fills me with dread. I still worry about it now although as time goes by it gets easier as the risk of a reoccurence lessens with time. I opted for radical radiotherapy - 3 times a day over 2 and a half weeks instead of once a day for 6 weeks. I lost my voice for around 2 months during and after treatment but as I said, when it finally came back it was my "old" voice (having been husky for years).

Like you, I was in the fortunate position of being closely monitored so that when it eventually turned to cancer, they caught it early. I was given a 95% success rate so I am trying to be positive that it won't come back.

Take care and if you have any questions feel free as I usually come on this site a few times a week.

Marion x

Hi Marion,

Thanks for your reply. I have to try and stop worrying I guess there are people in a lot worse position than I am and I am thankful that they have caught it early, I must say I cannot fault the NHS they have been superb don't think I could have got better treatment privately, just hope this lasering will be my last as my throat still feels a bit sore but my voice is coming back,so fingers crossed! Thanks for messaging me its just good to talk to someone who's been through the same thing as friends have been great but don't really fully understand how it feels to be told you have cancer, what ever stage it is. Its been quite devastating for me, but with luck I will get thru this and am trying to keep positive and look forward to a time when I can lay this to rest. Have a great christmas and may your health continue to be good.

Andy x

Hi Andy

I've only just logged in and saw your reply. Just wanted to say I wish you well for the future and hope that the lasering has worked for you and that will be the end of it.

Let's hope 2010 will be a healthy one for everyone!

Love Marion x

Hi Andy, Marion,

Sorry to come in to thread but was wondering of you give me some pointers about your conditions and experiences. I have just had my fourth biopsy taken for dysplasia of the vocal cords and am awaiting the results. The previous 3 have been severe so I am expecting the same or worse. My consultant has talked about Radiotherapy before and it looks like i will be heading in that direction.

When you had your laser/biopsies for the dysplasia did your voice get worse every time. At the moment I can barely talk and this is really getting me down and fustrated. Also how bad is the Radiotherapy. Is it something i shuld dread or is it a comfortable option. Hope you can point me in the right direction.

Chris

Hi Chris

I had very severe dysplacia / borderline laryngeal cancer for around 2-3 years but sometimes at my appointments my larynx looked 'normal' so I was confused about how it could go from severe displacia to normal - so it doesn't always mean that it will definitely turn to cancer.

After the biopsies/laser treatment my voice was worse for a while but got a bit better over time although it was always "husky" at the best of times and sounded like I had a sore throat.

In my case it did turn to cancer and I had radical radiotherapy - 38 treatments, 3 times a day for 2 and a half weeks. It was very unpleasant but something I knew I had to go through to get better. I was terrified of having my voicebox removed and I am so grateful to my consultant for constantly monitoring me.

If you do have to have radiotherapy you will have to have a mask made which fits tightly over your face and shoulders and fixes to the treatment table to keep you perfectly still. Towards the end of the treatment I couldn't swallow at all (not even water ) so I had to go into hospital to be tube fed for 2 weeks. They were going to give me a PEG which is a tube that goes directly into the stomach but I refused it and forced myself to eat even though it was really painful to swallow.

I hope they manage to treat you with lasering alone but if you do have to go down the radiotherapy route, try not to worry as in a way I was relieved that I was getting rid of it once and for all. The weird thing is that my voice is now completely normal - just like it used to be years ago!

On a positive note, if it is cancer then you know they have been monitoring you and it will be caught very early.

I wish you all the very best and please let me know how your results go.

Love Marion x

Sorry I got an error so thought my reply didn't work but I see it did!

Marion

Many thanks for the reply. I will be getting my results next Wednesday and will let you know how I get on. My voice is slightly better today so I suppose it will still be quite swollen after the laser. It is heartening that your voice is normal after laser and Radiotherapy. I have had 4 biopsies in 18months and my voice, I guess, never gets time to recover.

Thanks again,

Chris

HI Chris,

Sorry to hear of your throat problems. Let me explain what happened to me. About 2 years ago I noticed my voice getting hoarse and this lasted about a month so went to the doctor who then referred me to the ENT dept at st Barts hospital in london where I had an endoscopy which didn't really show anything other than a slight soreness and what they thought was a polyp on my left vocal chord. I had some voice therapy and started taking medication for reflux as they thought this might be causing it. After that I had a couple more endoscopys as it wasn't improving and this year they decided to that an operation to remove the polyp was necessary and as a precaution they would send it to the lab to get it checked out, again they weren't expecting to find anything untoward. However when the result came back it was severe dysplasia ( T1 type cancer) This was obviously a great shock to me as I really wasn't expecting it as apart from the hoarse voice I felt completely well. They said it was very early and could be treated with 98 per cent success rate and that it was localised and had not gone anywhere else, which I was relieved about.

I had my first laser treatment about 2 weeks later and he actually lasered away the area of dysplasia and some healthy tissue around it just to make sure it had all gone. After the laser my throat felt sore like having mild tonsilitus and I was hoarse for about 10 days after which my voice came back almost like normal which I was surprised about, it was the first time I could speak properly for about a year, and I could even sing! Everyone noticed how much better it sounded. Just after this I got a call from the consultant to say the biopsys around the affected area were all clear and that they would keep an eye on me but hopefully it was sorted. During this time my voice was pretty good sometimes a little husky at the end of the day but ok. When I went for my monthly check up to my surprise and disappointment he said that it looked inflamed and put me on a weeks course of steroids and antibiotics which didn't really have much effect but my voice was still ok. When I saw him again he suggested having another laser treatment as he said it may have returned which obviously filled me with dread but he said it was quite common after this type of surgery. I had my last laser 15th dec again hoarse and sore for a week but by xmas eve my voice had returned almost back to normal. I got my result last week and he said there was a slight return on the surface but again all the surrounding areas are clear which he was pleased about and reassured me not to worry and that things were looking good.

I have mentioned several times about having to have radiotherapy as like your self I am not sure what this entails and from what i'd heard it wasn't something I was keen to embark on unless it was absolutely necessary. He said it didn't warrant radiotherapy and he thinks this can be treated by laser alone and that radiotherapy was something, as he put it, to be saved if I needed it later down the line, he also said I may never need it. I am slightly puzzled that if you have already been told you have severe dyspasia would they not have lasered it away when they did your biopsy? I know every case is different but it might be worth mentioning this to your consultant, and exploring that option rather than going for radiotherapy straight away as you may not need it. I know how frustrated you must feel not being able to talk properly,I had the same problem and it drove me mad, i'm a personal trainer so it made my job really difficult and made me feel really self conscious going out as everybody would say whats wrong with your voice? I think that once you get rid of the irritation caused by the dyslpasia your voice will improve as i can't believe how much better my voice is now than before the surgery. I hope this has ben some help to you and that it is not too long winded. I wish you all the best with your treatment and remember we are in sense lucky as it is an early stage and we are being monitored. If you have any other questions just ask.

Best Wishes

Andy

Hi Marion,

Only just got your last msg sent on new years day. Thank you for thinking of me. I got my result from the last laser on jan 6th and he says there was a slight surface return of dysplasia which he lasered away and that the deeper biopsys he did were all clear which he says is looking good so fingers crossed, its ok. I wish you all the bset for 2010.

Andy x

Hi Andy

That's excellent news! Hopefully that will be the end of it and I'm sure the hospital will continue to monitor you and reassure you that all is well.

I wish you all the very best for the future.

Marion x

Thanks Marion same to you too.