Life after total laryngectomy
Babin, E.
Revue de Laryngologie - Otologie - Rhinologie 122(5): 303-309
2001
ISSN/ISBN: 0035-1334 PMID: 12092500 Document Number: 532223
This work relates the observation conducted in our outpatient clinic with fourteen patients who underwent a total laryngectomy due to a laryngeal and hypo pharyngeal cancer. The aims of our study were to analyse identity transformations and sociability modifications for these patients. It confirmed the social inequalities when a cancer occurs. Total laryngectomy upset or staggers the patients by impairing their appearance. Relations with other people are limited to the dearest because the tracheostomy and the deprivation of the original voice are regarded as disability that excludes them from the society. The physicians should be aware of the profound psychologic trouble and social changes attached to laryngeal cancer surgery to allow optimal care for the patients.