We studied the complications resulting from the placement and use of the vocal prosthesis, assessment of voice quality and speech intelligibility using perceptive-auditory parameters before and after speech therapy and the period needed for vocal rehabilitation. From February 1999 to June 2000, a study was conducted on 23 patients who underwent total laryngectomy and were given a tracheoesophageal prosthesis like the Blom-Singer Indwelling Low Pressure. Study design: Prospective clinical not randomized. Material and method: The study consisted of 22 males and their ages ranged from 40 years to 80 years. The follow up period varied between 150 days to 462 days. One patient with the posterior commissure affected was at stadium I; stadium II had one patient with a lesion in the subglottic region; stadium III had 13 patients; stadium IV had four patients. The prosthesis was placed in seven patients concomitantly with the laryngectomy, while the placement was secondary in the remaining group. Aim: We studied the complications resulting from the placement and use of the vocal prosthesis, assessment of voice quality and speech intelligibility using perceptive-auditory parameters before and after speech therapy and the period needed for vocal rehabilitation impossible. The success rating was 90% with 18 patients rehabilitated with the help of the prosthesis. The rehabilitation period varied between one day to 65 days. Conclusions: the complications resulted from placement and use of this prosthesis did not hamper its success; the average time taken for voice acquisition was seven days, vocal quality and intelligibility of speech showed improvement after the phonoterapy without significant statistics difference and the secondary placement through new surgical technique by digestive endoscopy is better than the conventional technique.
laryngectomy; voice rehabilitation; prosthesis
