Speech rehabilitation after total laryngectomy.
The outcome of speech therapy for 65 laryngectomees at Kitasato University Hospital is reported and what needs to be done in order to establish a better system for laryngectomee rehabilitation in Japan is discussed. Of the 65 patients, 53 were trained for both esophageal and electrolarynx speech, 8 for electrolarynx speech only and 4 for esophageal speech only. Of the 57 patients who were trained for esophageal speech, 38 continued the training for a period of > 6 months. Of these 38, 36 (94.7%) could produce one-syllable sounds at the first session. For the production of 5-6 syllables, a median of 6 sessions was necessary for the total laryngectomee group and 10 sessions were necessary for the pharyngo-laryngo-esophagectomee group but the difference was not significant. The study showed that for the production of a single esophageal sound the training period in our hospital was much shorter than that reported in other Japanese studies. Of the 65 patients, 27 (41.5%) acquired practical esophageal speech and 59 (90.8%) acquired either esophageal or electrolarynx speech. Six (9.2%) could not acquire any alaryngeal speech and this percentage was lower than that reported in other studies from Japan (12.5-33%) and from other countries (8.5-40%).
Koike
Minako
M
Speech Therapy Course, School of Allied Health Sciences, Kitasato University, Kanagawa, Japan. minako@ahs.kitasato-u.ac.jp
Kobayashi
Noriko
N
Hirose
Hajime
H
Hara
Yuki
Y
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D005260:Female; D006785:Hospitals, University / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D007822:Laryngeal Neoplasms / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation* / Q000601:surgery*; D007825:Laryngectomy / Q000009:adverse effects*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D020127:Recovery of Function / Q000502:physiology; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D013071:Speech, Alaryngeal; D013997:Time Factors