The use of ultrasound in determining the length of the Provox II voice prosthesis.

The use of speech prosthesis after total laryngectomy has become an international standard for voice restoration today. Provox II voice prosthesis is not permanently inserted, and as such, it must meet the criterion of achieving prolonged retention time within the walls of tracheo-esophageal fistula (TEF). Complications after the insertion of speech prosthesis are familiar and anticipated but efforts are being made in order to reduce them. Part of the complications is caused by inadequate choice of the length of the prosthesis. The Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery in Rijeka conducted a study which included 91 patients in the period from 01.01.2004. to 31.12.2010. We used ultrasound and computerized neck tomography on 58 (63.7%) patients in preoperative procedure through which we determined the length of the subsequent TE fistula. At the same time we used this opportunity to specify the length of the speech prosthesis we have inserted primarily or secondary. The number of respondents who had complications, and with whom we used neck ultrasound during preoperative procedure in order to determine the length of the prosthesis, was significantly smaller than the number of respondents who had complications but with whom we did not use the above mentioned procedure (5.6% vs. 15.5%, p = 0.042). Comparing our results to other studies, we believe that we managed to reduce the number of complications caused by inadequate length of the prosthesis, by routine preoperative use of neck ultrasound. This procedure has extended the median retention time of the prosthesis within the TE fistula, thus improving the results of speech restoration using voice prosthesis on laryngectomized patients.