EVALUATION OF VOICE BY PATIENTS AND CLOSE RELATIVES FOLLOWING DIFFERENT LARYNGEAL-CANCER TREATMENTS

The purpose of this study was to assess perception of life style change among laryngeal cancer patients. Seventy‐five patients (total laryngec‐tomy 35, supraglottic laryngectomy 15, hemilaryngectomy 12, radiotherapy eight, laser cordectomy five) and close relatives responded to a questionnaire and interview eliciting perception of: 1) posttreatment voice quality; 2) side effects of treatment vocationally and socially; and 3) degree of vocal or communicative change associated with vocational or social change. Whereas 43% of the patients reported vocational change and 37% reported social change, 88% expressed satisfaction with their posttreatment voices. This may have been due to the perceptions of the relatives, who generally had a more positive view of the patients' voices. Although laryngeal cancer had an impact on patient life style, patients seldom related this to vocal dysfunction. Copyright © 1990 Wiley‐Liss, Inc., A Wiley Company