Evaluation and analysis of quality of life in patients following laryngectomy

Objective To investigate the quality of life of the patients after laryngectomy. Methods A survey was conducted among 93 patients with partial laryngectomy and 42 patients with total laryngectomy. The survey included three questionnaires:(1)university of Washington-QOL scale;(2)QLQ-HN37 Scale of European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer;(3)Hospital anxiety and depression scale. Results The 3-year survival rate was 73.33%. The survival rate of patients with Stage I and II was higher than that of Stage III and IV,so did the quality of life(P0.01).The composite QOL scores of the partial laryngectomy group were higher than those of the total laryngectomy group (P0.01). The partial laryngectomy group was better than the other group in speech,leisure(P0.01),appearance and respiratory symptoms(P0.05).But the group of total laryngectomy was superior to the group of partial laryngectomy in pain(P0.01). The depression,anxiety of the total laryngectomy group was more positive than those of the other group (P0.05). Conclusions Partial laryngectomy was superior to total laryngectomy in the overall quality of life. Provided that the survival rate couldn't be reduced,partial laryngectomy should be considered firstly.