Toward the total rehabilitation of the alaryngeal patient.

Rehabilitative efforts directed toward the total laryngectomee are receiving increasing interest. Fifteen to 50% of laryngectomees fail to develop speech, and 50% do not return to full employment. Many make poor psychological adjustment. A study was designed wherein laryngectomees and their families were individually interviewed. These people suggested that their rehabilitation could have been facilitated had they been better informed preoperatively. Many expressed a desire for exposure to a speech pathologist and a successfully rehabilitated laryngectomee preoperatively. A total of 1,276 otolaryngologists were surveyed regarding the substance and amount of information they believed patients should receive prior to laryngectomy. Otolaryngologists, in the main, feel that they do fully and adequately inform their patients. Speech pathologists and rehabilitated laryngectomy patients are often called to see patients preoperatively. Nevertheless, we deduce that improvements need to be made to insure that the preoperative patient patient does in fact receive the information and counselling intended.