We were pleased to read Paleri and coauthors’ article “Vascularized Tissue to Reduce Fistula Following Salvage Total Laryngectomy: A Systematic Review” published in The Laryngoscope’s August 2014 issue. The review found a decrease in the rate of pharyngocutaneous fistulas by one third in salvage laryngectomy patients treated with a vascularized flap. Our group has previously published on this m...

Pharyngocutaneous fistula (PCF) is the most common complication following total laryngectomy and the most difficult to manage. It often causes increased morbidity, delays starting adjuvant therapy, prolongs hospitalisation, increases treatment costs and reduces the quality of life (QoL). The objective of this study is to analyse the predisposing factors and the most important nutritional parame...

Abstract Background Pharyngocutaneous fistula (PCF) is considered the most common suffering complication in laryngectomized patients. PCF occurs variably from 10 to 20% and sometimes reaches more than 60%, as a result of combination local systemic factors related poor tissue healing wound breakdown. Development affects restoration normal life after laryngectomy that could potentially lead major...

Smoking is an important risk factor in the development of head and neck cancer. However, little is known about its effects on postoperative complications in head and neck cancer surgery. We performed a retrospective analysis on 535 consecutive laryngeal cancer patients submitted to open partial laryngectomy at the Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Department of Florence University to evaluat...

IMPORTANCE Patients undergoing total laryngectomy are at high risk for hospital readmission. Hospital readmissions are increasingly scrutinized because they are used as a metric of quality care and are subject to financial penalties. OBJECTIVE To determine the rate of, reasons for, and risk factors that predict 30-day unplanned readmission for patients undergoing total laryngectomy. DESIGN,...