Indwelling tracheo-oesophageal voice prostheses post-laryngectomy in Sheffield, UK: a 6-year review.

The Groningen and Provox tracheo-oesophageal valve voice prostheses have been used in post-laryngectomy patients extensively in Sheffield since 1986 and 1990, respectively. To the present time a total of over 40 patients have made use of these devices, two thirds of whom underwent insertion at the time of laryngectomy. Prostheses were replaced under local or general anaesthesia if they were leaking or if phonation became increasingly difficult. Our experience with over 200 valves including the Groningen High Resistance, Groningen Low Resistance and Provox prostheses in this patient group is presented. We believe that the primary insertion of a low resistance prosthesis, either the Provox or Groningen Low Resistance device, is the method of choice in speech rehabilitation following laryngectomy.