Voice quality after organ-preservation therapy with definitive radiotherapy for laryngeal cancer

Valerie H. Lau, Rebecca J. Leonard, Susan Goodrich, Quang Luu, Gregory Farwell, Derick H. Lau, James A. Purdy, Allen M. Chen

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

7 Scopus citations

Abstract

Background. The purpose of this study was to analyze voice quality among patients treated by definitive radiotherapy for laryngeal cancer. Methods. Ten patients with laryngeal cancer who had completed radiotherapy were involved in this pilot study. A standardized protocol was administered assessing: (1) sustained vowel production following maximal inspiration, (2) sustained vowel production for a 7-second duration repeated 5 times, and (3) spontaneous speech for 10 seconds. Results. The acoustic parameters among patients with early-stage cancer were not statistically different from healthy age-corresponding controls, except for shimmer (0.20 vs 0.16 dB, p = 0.01) and maximum phonation duration (24.37 vs 30.10 seconds, p = 0.04). For patients with locally advanced cancer, differences with controls were observed with shimmer (2.29 vs 0.16 dB, p = 0.01), jitter (7.49% vs 1.04%, p = 0.01), harmonics-to-noise ratio (2.67 vs 9.22, p = 0.01), and maximum phonation duration (14.12 vs 30.10 seconds, p = 0.01). Conclusions. Despite the subtle differences in voice quality that existed, radiotherapy as a curative treatment for laryngeal cancer allows maintenance of a functional voice.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)943-948
Number of pages6
JournalHead and Neck
Volume34
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2012

Keywords

  • Laryngeal cancer
  • Organpreservation
  • Quality of life
  • Radiotherapy
  • Voice

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Voice quality after organ-preservation therapy with definitive radiotherapy for laryngeal cancer'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this