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Mental health after laryngectomy and partial laryngectomy: a comparative study

  • Laryngology
  • Published:
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Abstract

Patients treated for laryngeal cancer are confronted daily with the effects of the operation. The choice of treatment method can have a significant impact on psychosocial adjustment. Three hundred and six out-patients who underwent surgical treatment for laryngeal cancer within the last two decades were interviewed in their own homes using the structured clinical interview for DSM-IV (SCID). Psychiatric disorders were diagnosed among 17.3% of the partial laryngectomy patients (PL) and 22.2% of the patients with total laryngectomy (LE). In comparing four variables (age, time elapsed since diagnosis, gender and subjective speech intelligibility), subjective speech intelligibility and age were the variables with a unique, significant effect on the frequency of psychiatric disorders, albeit only in the case of PL patients. The need for psychosocial rehabilitation for patients with partial laryngectomy tends to be underestimated. It is concluded that screening for psychological variables and subjective speech intelligibility can be beneficial for the identification of out-patients lacking appropriate treatment.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (# 7DZAIQTX) and by the University of Leipzig (# formel. 1–57). We would like to thank all study participants for their willingness to be interviewed and all study clinics for their research assistance. Many thanks also to the researchers involved in this study, S. Singer, A. Meyer, J. Bindewald, S. Schmidt, S. Kloetzner, S. Fleischmann, N. Seidel, J. Dudda and W. Berger. Furthermore we acknowledge Thomas Greenleaves advice for earlier versions of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Social Medicine, University of Leipzig, Philipp-Rosenthal-Str. 55, 04103, Leipzig, Germany

    Claudia Bussian, Dorit Wollbrück, Helge Danker, Esther Herrmann & Reinhold Schwarz

  2. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

    Andreas Dietz

  3. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University Hospital of Halle/Saale, Halle/Saale, Germany

    Alexander Thiele

Authors
  1. Claudia Bussian
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  2. Dorit Wollbrück
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  3. Helge Danker
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  4. Esther Herrmann
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  5. Alexander Thiele
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  6. Andreas Dietz
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  7. Reinhold Schwarz
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Correspondence to Claudia Bussian.

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Bussian, C., Wollbrück, D., Danker, H. et al. Mental health after laryngectomy and partial laryngectomy: a comparative study. Eur Arch Otorhinolaryngol 267, 261–266 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-009-1068-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00405-009-1068-7

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