A British experience of surgical voice restoration techniques as a secondary procedure following total laryngectomy.

An earlier paper (Cheesman et al., 1985) described assessment procedures for 'failed' oesophageal speakers who were referred to Charing Cross Hospital for possible Surgical Voice Restoration in 1983-4. This paper presents the results of surgical voice restoration in the first fifty laryngectomized patients referred and analyses the reasons for failure in those where surgical voice restoration was unsuccessful. 94 per cent of patients who underwent secondary voice restoration were successful at two weeks post-surgery, but this success rate dropped to 73 per cent at three months. Reasons for this are explained and the pre-requisites for a successful surgical voice restoration are indicated.