Swallowing, voice, and quality of life after supratracheal laryngectomy: preliminary long-term results.

BACKGROUND The purpose of this study was to report preliminary long-term outcomes after supratracheal laryngectomy (STL). METHODS Twenty-two male patients who underwent STL were involved in this study. Swallowing skills, neoglottis motility, and vibrations were videoendoscopically assessed. Aerodynamic measures, spectrogram analysis, aspiration pneumonia, body weight variations, and voice perceptual assessment were performed. Generic, voice-related, and swallowing-related quality of life (QOL) were assessed. RESULTS Aspiration was found in 10, 2, and 5 patients, respectively, for liquids, semisolids, and solids. Neoglottis motility was generally preserved, whereas vibration was impaired. Aerodynamic measures showed a poor performance. Perceptual assessment revealed highly dysphonic voices. In only 8 patients, a harmonic structure was visible in the spectrograms. Aspiration pneumonia occurred in 2 patients. Preoperative weight was maintained in 16 patients. Generic, voice-related, and swallowing-related QOL revealed satisfied patients. CONCLUSION After STL, swallowing was sufficiently restored and QOL was satisfactory, whereas the voice was severely impaired even if oral communication was well preserved.