Tracheoesophageal shunt for vocal rehabilitation after laryngectomy

Abstract

To discuss the clinical value of functional tracheoesophageal shunt for vocal rehabilitation after laryngectomy. One hundred and twenty seven cases of tracheoesophageal shunt for vocal rehabilitation after laryngectomy in Cancer Hospital of Tianjin Medical University from 1981 to 2006 were analyzed retrospectively. Among 127 cases, 105 cases got successful phonation and the total success rate of vocal rehabilitation was 82.7%, all successful cases were followed up from 2 to 27 years had good phonation quality and no aspiration. Analyzing the reasons of failure in phonation of the 22 cases, 9 cases were because of improper operation (7 cases for narrow fistula and 2 cases for broad fistula), 13 cases were because of postoperative infection (10 cases for narrow fistula and 3 cases for broad fistula). The key to successful phonation was the size of fistula, the main causes of the failure in phonation were related to uncorrected operative procedure and postoperative infection. This method for vocal rehabilitation after laryngectomy has high success rate of vocal rehabilitation and low complications, it is relatively simple and worth popularizing in clinical treatment.