OBJECTIVES To determine the quality of life (QOL) in patients using valved speech following total laryngectomy with a validated patient self-report scale. STUDY DESIGN Cross-sectional cohort study. PATIENTS 63 patients following total laryngectomy using valved speech. INTERVENTION University of Washington Quality of Life (UW-QOL) questionnaire. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Patient perception o...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS Perform a systematic literature search to provide an overview of today's literature regarding the different aspects that can cause dysphagia after supracricoid laryngectomy. STUDY DESIGN A systematic literature review. REVIEW METHODS The inclusion criteria were laryngeal cancer, supracricoid laryngectomy, and swallowing. Thirty-one qualifying articles were included and...

BACKGROUND Pharyngocutaneous fistula is a serious complication of total laryngectomy. The purpose of this study was to examine predisposing factors at our institution. METHODS We conducted a retrospective review of 94 consecutive patients undergoing total laryngectomy. Cases with hypopharyngeal primary tumors or undergoing extended hypopharyngeal resection with flap augmentation of the pharyn...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of radiotherapy and surgical voice restoration on functional outcome after total laryngectomy. METHODS Questionnaire packs were posted to all 258 laryngectomy patients in the West of Scotland Managed Clinical Network. Packs contained the Voice Symptom Scale (VoiSS), MD Anderson Dysphagia Inventory (MDADI), and University of Was...

BACKGROUND Controversy exists as to the management of advanced laryngeal carcinoma. In general primary radical surgery is favoured. OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to analyse the clinical outcome of patients having total laryngectomy for cancer of larynx. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study was a retrospective case note review and questionnaires were used for evaluating voice handicap. The...

OBJECTIVES Pharyngocutaneous fistula is a serious complication after total laryngectomy, and there are some risk factors stated in the literature. The surgical suture techniques are not studied so much. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of 'modified continuous mucosal Connell suture' on the incidence of pharyngocutaneous fistula after total laryngectomy. METHODS This is a...

Organ preservation protocols of high-dose chemoradiotherapy have become fairly common to treat head and neck cancers. However, significant swallowing problems can occur. This study examines swallowing, oral tongue pressures, and tongue base-to-pharyngeal wall pressures in a patient who underwent total laryngectomy for improvement of swallowing after chemoradiotherapy for treatment of a hypophar...