Speech rehabilitation using Provox voice prosthesis

The first voice prosthesis was described in 1972 by Mozolewski. Eight years later Blom and Singer constructed the first commercial prosthesis. In 1988 another prosthesis was presented as Provox system prosthesis. The aim of the study was to describe the technique of tracheoesophageal puncture (TEP) and to present two years results of the technique performed in 21 patients. Primary TEP with immediate implantation of the Provox 2 prosthesis was applied in 16 (76%) patients. In five patients (24%) secondary TEP was performed. All the patient with primary TEP had cricopharyngeal myotomy. In 7 patients the vocal prosthesis was exchanged. In five because of leakage through the valve and in two patients the vocal prosthesis was extruded. Leakage around the prosthesis occurred in two patients with secondary TEP. The mean device-related lifetime was 216 days and ranged from 30 to 540 days. In non-radiated patients the lifetime of the prosthesis was 255 days and in patients after radiotherapy the lifetime was 150 days. In all the patients the prosthetic voice was more similar to normal voice than in patients with esophageal speech. The implantation of the voice prosthesis is a simple method of restoring of a good quality voice enabling communication.