Functional assessment after laryngotracheoplasty.

Abstract

Laryngotracheal stenosis is a difficult problem to manage. Functional assessment is measured primarily on the ability to successfully decannulate the patient. In an effort to identify reliable, objective parameters for postoperative functional assessment, we present a retrospective study of 10 postlaryngotracheoplasty patients. All subjects underwent analysis with computerized tomography, translaryngeal manometry, acoustic reflection, flow volume loops (FVL), and voice analysis. Our results led us to conclude that accurate functional assessment is best provided by use of a combination of CT and spectral voice analysis.