Occult lymph node metastasis in patients with laryngeal cancer and relevant predicting factors: a single-center experience.

Overall occult LNM is low (17.4%) in N0 laryngeal cancer, but the presence of LNM is a poor prognostic factor. Correct determination of the neck status and proper treatment is crucial. The incidence of LNM is very low in T1-T2 stages and well-differentiated tumors. The "wait and see" strategy may be applied in T1-T2 cases as well as selected T3 cases with well-differentiated tumors.