We have been working in close cooperation on the surgery of cancer of the larynx and have published a paper presenting in detail our views concerning surgical indications and describing our technic of laryngectomy.1 Recently we have been using a new technic2 for this operation, more conservative than the one previously described by us. Both technics will be described in this article so as to make their differences and the indications for each well understood.
In both operations the preepiglottic space is removed entirely and simultaneously with the larynx. The manner of spreading of a tumor at the base of the epiglottis and ventricular bands, well established by Leroux-Robert, makes it probable that in a large number of cases the removal of the tumor cannot be accomplished with safety if the preepiglottic space is not removed as well as the larynx. By using a special clamp (fig. 1) it is