3 things to note after laryngeal cancer surgery

Surgery is the main means of treating laryngeal cancer. After surgery, patients should pay attention to the following three points in their daily lives.

Be careful when going out

For patients with advanced laryngeal cancer or severe tumor invasion, total laryngectomy and partial laryngectomy are the main treatments. About 40% of patients need total laryngectomy due to the large scope of lesions. Since patients breathe through a tracheostomy in the neck after surgery, they cannot speak normally without airflow in their mouths.

Therefore, if the patient goes out alone, it is best to carry a security identity card with him/her and write his/her name, age, address, and contact number on the card, especially noting that he/she has undergone a total laryngectomy. Of course, it is best to have a family member accompany him/her.

Exercise

Appropriate exercise can help patients recover their physical strength after laryngeal cancer surgery. The amount of exercise should be increased gradually, and you should adapt gradually. It should be done step by step, and you should not rush for results. Neck and shoulder functional exercises are especially recommended. This is because some patients need to undergo neck lymph node dissection at the same time as total laryngectomy, which will cause damage to the neck and shoulder muscles, causing the patient to be unwilling to move due to pain, and then muscle atrophy, and upper limb activity limitation affects the quality of life.

Regular review

Recurrence and metastasis of laryngeal cancer usually occur within two years after treatment. Therefore, you must go to the hospital for regular checkups during this period. The checkup time is generally 3 months, 6 months, and 12 months after discharge, and then every other year.

If the patient has a lump in the neck, swelling in the neck that does not subside but worsens, difficulty breathing, coughing up blood, bad breath, etc., he should go to the hospital for examination at any time. The review content includes palpation of the neck and chest X-ray.

Follow-up examination is a very important part of the recovery period of laryngeal cancer. Patients must pay attention to it and have follow-up examinations on time.