Carotid-Sparing Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy for Early-Stage Squamous Cell Carcinoma of the True Vocal Cord

There is no question that IMRT can reduce the dose to the carotid arteries in patients with early-stage vocal cord cancer. The question is whether the potential advantage of reducing the carotid dose outweighs the risk of tumor recurrence due to contouring errors and organ motion and the risk of complications from dose heterogeneity.