Phantom larynx: a clinical survey.

A phantom phenomenon has been reported to occur after amputation or deafferentation of a limb or another body part. A phantom phenomenon following laryngectomy has not been described before. In the search for a phantom phenomenon, we carried out a retrospective clinical study on 35 post total laryngectomy patients who attended the Head and Neck Clinic of Southmead Hospital, Bristol (a tertiary referral centre for head and neck cancer), comparing them to a control group of 57 patients who attended the same clinic but had not undergone a total laryngectomy. The main outcome measures were, charting subjective sensation of phantom larynx and eliciting phantom phenomenon by cutaneous stimulation of neck and face. In 24 (69%) patients, there was either a subjective sensation of phantom or a positive response to cutaneous stimulation. There was no response to cutaneous stimulation in the control group. In conclusion, a phantom phenomenon does appear to occur after total laryngectomy.