GPR Live: Troubleshooting voice prosthesis, speech and swallowing problems postlaryngectomy
10/12/2023
Webinar | GPR
Complex case management: troubleshooting voice prosthesis, speech and swallowing problems postlaryngectomy
Losing the natural voice after a total laryngectomy can be a difficult experience as it adversely affects your ability to communicate. Thankfully, there are several methods to regain the voice after surgery. Tracheoesophageal speech is one method and is considered the gold standard of alaryngeal voice restoration with the highest success rate. Complications and adverse effects can occur with tracheoesophageal speech but can be prevented or managed successfully.
This webinar will provide you with an overview of the challenges of using a voice prosthesis and/or other factors and their solutions, including surgical and nonsurgical treatments for hypo and hypertonicity and TE fistula tract issues. Case studies will be presented.
Objectives of the webinar:
1. Be aware about possible problems with voice prostheses: early leakage and fistula problems
2. How to manage VP problems and speech issues by the clinician
3. Discuss protocols to optimize voice rehabilitation by the SLP
Time ordered agenda:
0-5 Welcome and introduction
5-35 Overview and management of voice prosthesis-related adverse events
35-60 Management of speech dysfunction by the SLP
60-70 Case presentations
70-90 Q&A
Webinar speakers
Lisette van der Molen (PhD), is senior postdoc, coordinator of the Head and Neck Rehabilitation Program and Clinical Linguist/Speech Language Pathologist at the Netherlands Cancer Institute. She is appointed in our department of Head and Neck Oncology and Surgery since July 2006. She obtained her PhD degree from the University of Amsterdam in 2011 on the prevention of trismus, swallowing and speech problems in patients treated with chemo-radiation for advanced head and neck cancer. In 2018 she is rewarded for her thesis as best research in the last 10 years in the Netherlands related to patient care in head and neck cancer. Her main research interests are on rehabilitation after total laryngectomy and on organ (and function) preserving therapies in head and neck cancer. She has written over 50 papers and she has presented several papers at international head and neck cancer or speech and language pathology conferences, mainly dealing to functional problems after head and neck cancer treatment and functional rehabilitation after total laryngectomy.
Prof. Alfons Balm is an Otolaryngologist-Head and Neck Surgeon at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam since 1989. He was the Emeritus Chairman of the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Working Group, between 1991 - 2016. He has a Ph.D. degree from the Free University of Amsterdam in 1982 and accepted the chair in Head and Neck Oncology and Surgery at the University of Amsterdam in 2003. His current main research interests are voice and pulmonary restoration after total laryngectomy and predicting morbidity after oral surgery (Virtual Therapy). Prof. Alfons Balm co-authored over 280 peer reviewed papers.
We hope you can join us!
Previous GPR Academy webinars held this year covered Postlaryngectomy complications and care to Dysphagia and surgical techniques, while remaining webinars for 2023 will cover Troubleshooting Voice Prostheses, Speech and Swallowing and lastly to Achieving Successful FreeHands Speech.
Our series of webinars offer an opportunity to hear from experts within the field, addressing current topics and trends in laryngectomy care. Various areas of clinical care are covered in each session, with the overall aim of improving patient outcomes through evidence-based education, practical discussions, troubleshooting and question and answers sessions.