Long-term results of vocal rehabilitation after total laryngectomy with the low-resistance, indwelling Provox voice prosthesis system.

A low-resistance indwelling prosthesis for vocal rehabilitation after total laryngectomy, Provox was developed in the Netherlands Cancer Institute 5 years ago. The long-term results in 132 patients using this prosthesis are now reported. The mean and median device life of the prosthesis in the 75 patients in long-term follow-up are 235 and 141 days respectively. Good to fair vocal rehabilitation was achieved in 92% of the patients. Statistical analysis revealed a significant relationship of the device life with the original tumour site (P = 0.0078). Radiotherapy had a borderline (P = 0.0652) negative influence on the device life but not on prosthesis-related complications. Increasing follow-up time has a positive influence on the device life of the prosthesis (P < 0.0001).