[en] In the years 1960-1967, 398 patients with laryngeal carcinoma were treated at the Department of Radiotherapy, Institute of Radiology in Warsaw. It was found that the most frequent complication following conventional radiotherapy (observed in 63.1% of cases) was chronic laryngeal oedema which was not life-threatening and was quite transient but required constant observation since it could mask recurrence of the neoplasm in about 50% of cases. Acute radiation-induced oedema occurred in only 2% of cases. Other changes included incompetence of vocal chords in 6.3% of cases, necrosis of laryngeal cartilages in 2.8% (which was not above the generally accepted risk of radical radiotherapy), while scar formation in the larynx with stenosis of its lumen and hypertrophy of mucosa with excessive keratinization was very rare 0.25% of cases), skin necrosis on the neck developed in 1% of cases. The rarity of severe damage after radiotherapy speaks in favour of this method of treatment in properly selected cases of laryngeal carcinoma because it is possible to achieve cure with maintained voice in a considerable proportion of cases. (author)