One of the questions patients with laryngeal cancer ask most often is this:
Will I lose my voice completely?
This is a very natural worry… But I can say this with complete peace of mind: a laryngeal cancer patient does not lose their voice.
The larynx (voice box) is the organ that houses our vocal cords. But the treatment plan changes depending on where the tumour is located, its size and its stage.
If the disease is caught at an early stage, we can usually preserve the voice by removing only the part containing the tumour, or with radiotherapy. In fact, many of our patients continue to speak normally after treatment.
At more advanced stages, it is sometimes necessary to remove the entire larynx. In this case, although the natural voice is lost, patients are able to speak again using methods such as a voice prosthesis, an electrolarynx or oesophageal speech. In other words, there is no such thing as being left completely without a voice.
Our aim is always both to clear the cancer completely and to preserve the patient’s quality of life and voice as much as possible.
And there is one thing I particularly want to emphasise:
If your hoarseness has lasted for more than two weeks, do not wait for it to ‘pass’. Be sure to see an ENT specialist. Early diagnosis significantly increases both the success of treatment and the chance of preserving the voice.