Abstract
OBJECTIVE: To determine the clinical features, diagnosis and complications of total laryngectomy at a tertiary care hospital.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: This descriptive prospective study was conducted at the department of ENT, Head and Neck Surgery, PGMI/LRH Peshawar from Janurary 2001 to December 2010. All patients were thoroughly evaluated and disease was staged according to TNM. After informed consent total laryngectomy was performed in all patients followed by chemoradiotherapy.
RESULTS: A total of 26 patients underwent total laryngectomies for histologically confirmed laryngeal cancers. The age of the patients ranged from 38-72 years with mean age of 57.34 +/- S.D 9.6 years. Hoarseness was the commonest (100%) presenting feature. According to TNM staging system 15 patients (57.69%) had stage III and 11 patients (42.30%) had stage IV carcinoma larynx. There was wound infection in 6 patients (23.07%) and 4 patients (15.38%) developed pharyngocutanous fistula.
CONCLUSION: The commonest presentation of laryngeal carcinoma was hoarseness, so any smoker patient having age greater than 40 years with persistent hoarseness must be investigated for laryngeal carcinoma.