Abstract
The present state of T-E shunt operation devised by the author for the postlaryngectomy voice rehabilitation is reported in this paper.
Fifty-two of sixty-seven patients (78%) attained the good speech using the shunt, while fifteen patients failed to develop the speech.
The most frequent cause of the failure was the stenosis of the esophageal orifice of the shunt.
Ten of fifteen unsuccessful cases belonged to this category. However, six of ten patients, whose speech was attained in a short period following the operation, developed the esophageal speech spontaneously without any instruction.
Thirty-three of fifty-two successful cases could control the aspiration during swallowing, while nineteen patients avoided it by percutaneous digital pressure on the shunt.
Based on the respects above-mentioned, recent ideas of the author and Kato to prevent the stenosis of the esophageal orifice of the shunt and the technique for the avoidance of the postoperative aspiration were introduced.
