Voice related quality of life outcomes following treatment of laryngeal cance

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate and compare the voice related quality of life in individuals treated with two dierent modalities for laryngeal cancer: total laryngectomy using tracheoesophageal speech (TES) and chemoradiotherapy using laryngeal speech (CRT). Twenty patients, who were divided into two groups- group I (TES) and group II (CRT) with ten in each, participated in the study. They autonomously completed the Voice Related Quality Of Life (V-RQOL), a questionnaire with 10-items for quality of life survey. Statistical analysis was performed and results revealed dierences between the groups on domains and total scores of V-RQOL; however, the dierence was not statistically signicant.Thus, the study concluded that self-assessment is crucial and should be considered as a part of voice evaluation. Also, voice related problems occur not only for TES group but also for CRT patients which indicates the need of voice- and speech rehabilitation in both patient groups.