Profile and speech-language rehabilitation of patients with laryngeal cancer

Abstract

Purpose: to describe the clinical and sociodemographic profile and analyze the voice rehabilitation outcomes of patients with laryngeal cancer. Methods: cross-sectional study with 204 individuals with laryngeal cancer treated between 1989 and 2015. The variables describing the patients' profile were presented in absolute values (n) and percentage (%). The association between the speech-language therapy outcome and the sociodemographic and clinical characterization variables was verified by means of uni- and multivariate techniques. Results: 95.1% of the patients are male; 53.43% are aged 60 or more; 77.37% have elementary education; 44.12% are in the service industry; 81.63% smoke and consume alcohol; 30.4% are stage T3. Absence of nodules was found in 72.00%, and of metastasis, in 85.6% of patients. The most frequent therapeutic procedure was complete or partial laryngectomy (69.61%). There was an association among education, disease stage, habits, and therapeutic outcome with speech-language therapy (p < 0.001). Conclusion: Several causes can affect the prognosis of vocal rehabilitation in patients with laryngeal cancer. Optimization and diversification of new therapeutic procedures are challenges for these patients' speech-language rehabilitation.