Amatsu’s Technique Using the Blom-Singer Tracheostoma Valve

Abstract

For more than 20 years, various surgical techniques for postlaryngectomy voice restoration have been described. To create voice in the laryngectomized gullet, the trachea should be connected to the pharynx or oesophagus by a tract so that the diverted exhaled pulmonary air vibrates the gullet wall. The tract, however, always carries the potential risk of allowing dietary liquid to leak into the trachea. It is clear to see how a surgically-created tract without any sphincteric function or valve mechanism to close automatically during deglutition may allow liquid to leak from the gullet into the trachea.