2020 Volume 30 Issue 1 Pages 79-85
Organ preservation therapies including （chemo）radiotherapy and laryngeal preservation surgery are currently used for the treatment of either early laryngeal or hypopharyngeal carcinomas. In particular, transoral surgery is generally recognized as a minimally invasive treatment option for preventing swallowing dysfunction after the surgery. We report the case of a 79-year-old Japanese man with a medical history of chemoradiation therapy for nasopharyngeal cancer, presenting with severe swallowing impairment subsequent to transoral videolaryngoscopic surgery （TOVS） for early hypopharyngeal cancer. A positive surgical margin was diagnosed by histopathological examination. No significant improvement of swallowing function was observed after rehabilitation therapy for post-operative dysphagia for three months. He then recovered his swallowing function by receiving laryngeal suspension and cricopharyngeal myotomy in addition to further resection of the pharyngeal mucosa and the constrictor muscle followed by swallowing rehabilitation therapy. Post-operative dysfunction of swallowing by TOVS can be improved by adequate surgical management.
