Primary speech restoration at laryngectomy by insertion of voice prosthesis--10 years experience.

A total of 88 patients underwent laryngectomy at the ENT Department, Gentofte University Hospital, Hellerup, Denmark, from May 1989 to May 1999. Of these, 85 patients underwent salvage operations for squamous cell laryngeal carcinoma after previous full course radiotherapy. A total of 76 patients had primary tracheo-oesophageal puncture performed at the time of laryngectomy, 11 had a secondary procedure performed, 7 of these had been laryngectomized elsewhere. Eight patients were not eligible for tracheo-oesophageal puncture due to age, social reasons or extensive surgery. In all, 79 patients were able to use the prosthesis for communicative purposes weeks after the operation and developed fluent speech. During the observation time, 14 patients had their voice prosthesis removed or disconnected for various reasons. The average life duration for Provox voice prosthesis generation I vs Provox generation II was 3.1 and 2.3 months, respectively.