Restoration of the voice function after subtotal laryngectomy and formation of tracheopharyngeal shunt

Abstract

We introduce our newly designed voice restoration technique for patients who have undergone subtotal laryngectomy for laryngeal and pharyngolaryngeal cancer. To study the efficacy of this technique, we analyzed the voice rehabilitation results in 14 patients with laryngeal and pharyngolaryngeal cancer. Voice function was restored in 13 (92.9%) patients 6-12 days after starting speech therapy. The middle voice, voice of medium timbre, long speech (phrase of 4-5 words) and speech sufficient for communication in everyday life and on the phone were formed. An acoustic analysis of spectral components of the speech signal of the formed voice revealed that the main voice parameters were reduced (the frequency of the fundamental tone was 75-130 Hz and the time of maximum phonation varied from 1.5 to 2.7 s). At a follow-up of 12 months, the frequency of the fundamental tone increased up to 120-170 Hz and the time of maximum phonation increased up to 4-4.5 s. Our technique of voice restoration after subtotal laryngectomy with the formation of a tracheopharyngeal shunt allowed us to restore voice function in a short time, return the previous social status and significantly improve the quality of life of laryngectomized patients.