Proximal esophageal contractions in laryngectomized patients.

After laryngectomy for treatment of laryngeal cancer, the distal esophageal contractions have low amplitude. Our hypothesis is that proximal esophageal contractions are also impaired. We studied the proximal esophageal contractions in 20 laryngectomized patients (16 men) with a mean age of 44.2 years, 12 rehabilitated patients with esophageal speech, and 12 controls (7 men, mean age of 46.5 years). We used the manometric method with continuous perfusion. All subjects were studied in the sitting position and performed five swallows of a 5-ml bolus of water alternated with five dry swallows. The contractions were measured 2 cm below the high-pressure zone of the pharyngoesophageal transition. The results showed that the amplitude and duration of contractions were different in laryngectomized patients compared with controls. The amplitude of contractions of patients (wet swallows: 37.3+/-20.7 mmHg, mean+/-SD) was lower than that of controls (81.1+/-31.7 mmHg). The duration of contractions was also lower in laryngectomized patients (2.2+/-0.7 s) than in controls (2.6+/-0.6 s). We conclude that the proximal esophageal contraction amplitude and duration of laryngectomized patients are lower than controls, a fact suggesting that laryngectomy may affect the proximal esophageal contractions.