Voice-Related Quality of Life After Total Laryngectomy: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Abstract

BackgroundTo compare voice rehabilitation-related quality of life among patients surgically treated for total laryngectomy and rehabilitated with esophageal (EV) and tracheoesophageal (TEV) voice. MethodsA systematic literature review of articles from the past 20 years was conducted, and only full-text English articles comparing VTE and EV results in laryngectomized patients were included. ResultsWe provided 15 articles for a total of 1085 laryngectomized patients undergoing voice rehabilitation, of which 869 (80.1%) were treated with voice prosthesis while 216 (19.9%) to esophageal speech. Pooled VHI outcomes showed a significantly better score for the TEV group than EV one (31.93±12.11 versus 35.39±20.6; P = 0.003), but no significant difference was recorded at VrQoL (8.27±5.98 versus 9.27±2.02; P = 0.19). ConclusionTEV and EV are both effective procedures in voice rehabilitation after laryngectomy. Although TEV allows for significantly better speech performance, it does not necessarily correlate with a high VrQoL.