Long-Term Results with Consistent Use of Indwelling Voice Prosthesis in Albania

Authors

  • Besim Boçi English Department
  • Klevis Thomai
  • Roven Sinani

Abstract

Objective: To assess long term results with use of indwelling voice prosthesis (Provox) for vocal rehabilitation after total laryngectomy in Albania. Design: Retrospective clinical analysis Patients: One hundred four patients (101 men and 3 women) from May 2008, through April 2014. Interventions: Standard wide-field total laryngectomy (89 patients), or total laryngectomy and circumferential pharyngeal resection (15 patients), and 44 prosthesis replacements. Prostheses remained in situ during 121080 days. Results: Median patient-device follow-up was 38.7 months. Mean actuarial device lifetime for all indications for replacement was 807.2 days. Main indications for replacement were device related, ie, leakage through the prosthesis (41.3%) or fistula related, ie, leakage around the prosthesis (33.3%), and hypertrophy and/or infection of the fistula ( 4.2%). Adverse events occurred in 12.5% of all replacements mostly solvable by a shrinkage period of 7 days, adequate sizing and/or antibiotic treatment. Significant clinical factors for increased device life time were no radiotherapy and age older than 70 years (p<02). Success rate with respect to voice quality (ie, fair to excellent rating) was 83.2%. Conclusion: The consistent use of indwelling voice prosthesis shows a high success rate of prosthetic vocal rehabilitation, in terms of the percentage of long-term users (90.9%), and a fair to excellent voice quality (83.2% of patients).

Keywords: Device lifetime, indications for replacement (device or fistula related), adverse events, and voice quality.

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Published

2016-01-02

How to Cite

Boçi, B., Thomai, K., & Sinani, R. (2016). Long-Term Results with Consistent Use of Indwelling Voice Prosthesis in Albania. ANGLISTICUM. Journal of the Association-Institute for English Language and American Studies, 3(5), 88–96. Retrieved from https://www.anglisticum.org.mk/index.php/IJLLIS/article/view/596

Issue

Section

Volume 3, No.5, May, 2014