Introduction: Total laryngectomy/pharingo-laryngectomy is a potentially aggressive surgery for advanced laryngeal/hypopharyngeal carcinomas, which results in important physical and functional changes that compromise some of the most vital functions, including speech communication. For these patients, tracheoesophageal speech is considered to be the gold standard for voice rehabilitation. Object...

Development of voice after tracheoesophageal puncture, following laryngectomy, is sometimes hampered by spasm of the cricopharyngeal muscle. This problem has been addressed by various means, including bougienage, botulinum toxin injection, and open surgical division of the muscle. We believe that endoscopic carbon dioxide laser cricopharyngeal myotomy represents a direct, simple, and effective ...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Primary tracheoesophageal puncture (TEP) is a well-described and accepted method of surgical voice restoration and is standardly completed with a catheter placement intraoperatively, which is replaced with a prosthesis at a later date. This study evaluates the intraoperative placement of the voice prosthesis at the time of the primary TEP in an effort to understand the pot...

OBJECTIVE To assess relationships between voice satisfaction and global quality of life in patients who have been treated for laryngeal cancer. DESIGN Cross-sectional survey study. SETTING Veterans Affairs Medical Center. PATIENTS Eighty patients who had completed treatment for laryngeal cancer with either total laryngectomy (n=17), radiotherapy (n=24), or both (n=39). MAIN OUTCOME MEAS...