1. Treatment
2. Laryngeal cancer
3. Chemotherapy

Chemotherapy

There are a number of ways that chemotherapy may be used to treat laryngeal cancer including:
Definitive	Sometimes chemotherapy is added to definitive radiation therapy (chemoradiation). It is usually used for advanced stage laryngeal cancers. This may be given once every 3 weeks or once a week throughout the duration of radiation therapy. The addition of chemotherapy makes the radiation more effective at killing cancer cells but also leads to increased side effects in most patients.
Adjuvant	This is when chemotherapy is given after surgery in combination with radiation therapy (chemoradiation). This may be given once every 3 weeks or once a week throughout the duration of radiation therapy. The addition of chemotherapy makes the radiation more effective at killing cancer cells but also leads to increased side effects in most patients.
Neo-adjuvant	This is when chemotherapy is given before surgery or radiation therapy to help shrink large cancers and make them easier to remove or target with radiation therapy. This is not commonly used for laryngeal cancer.
Palliative	This is used when the cancer is incurable. The cancer may be too large or has spread too much to be removed by surgery. Palliative chemotherapy helps to slow the growth of cancer and reduce symptoms. It is important to remember that palliative chemotherapy is not as intense as other types and is much less likely to have significant side effects.

Before you start treatment, your medical oncologist will choose one or more chemotherapy medications that will be best to treat the type of cancer you have. 

The chemotherapy medications your doctor chooses may depend on: 

• whether the treatment is curative or palliative

• when it is used

• your medical history.

Side effects 

The side effects of chemotherapy depend on the medication used and and how much you are given by your doctor (the dose). The most common medications used are called cisplatin, carboplatin and cetuximab. 

Each person responds to chemotherapy differently. Some people may experience a few side effects while others may not experience any at all. The following are common side effects of chemotherapy: 

• a feeling of wanting to vomit (nausea) or vomiting

• more side effects of radiation, if you have chemotherapy at the same time as radiation

• loss of feeling in the fingers and toes

• kidney damage (caused by some medications)

• hearing loss/thinning

• ringing in the ears

• rash

• higher risk of infection (if the chemotherapy reduces the number of white cells in the blood)

Once your treatments end, you will have regular follow-up appointments so that your doctor can check your recovery, make sure the cancer has not returned and monitor and treat any side effects that you may have.

Your doctor may recommend that you receive some specific supportive care to help during your recovery.