Special care after laryngeal cancer surgery

People with throat cancer often need special care after surgery.

First of all, laryngeal cancer patients often experience pain symptoms after surgery, which can generally be relieved clinically with medication. Patients can freely discuss how to relieve pain with their attending physicians.

Secondly, laryngeal cancer patients cannot eat or drink for a few days after surgery, so they need to replenish fluids through an intravenous route. Although the digestive tract returns to normal after 1 to 2 days, the patient still cannot swallow because the larynx has not yet healed. At this time, fluids and nutrients need to be injected into the stomach through the nasogastric tube reserved during the operation. The nasogastric tube can only be removed when the swelling in the throat subsides and the wound gradually heals. At the beginning of eating, because swallowing is difficult, patients need to resume regular eating little by little under the guidance of nurses or speech pathologists.

Third, laryngeal cancer patients will produce a lot of sputum in their lungs and trachea after surgery, which requires nursing staff to use an aspirator to remove the sputum in the cannula through a plastic tube until the patient recovers the ability to cough and suction sputum. In addition, it is necessary to remove saliva in the mouth in a timely manner for a period of time after surgery, because the swelling of the throat prevents the swallowing of saliva.

In addition, when a normal person breathes, the air entering the airway is humidified by the nasal cavity and the laryngeal cavity, but after surgery, the air of a laryngeal cancer patient will directly enter the trachea through the tracheostomy and will not be humidified. Therefore, the patient also needs to use a special humidification device to humidify the air entering the stoma.