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Identification and Protection of the Recurrent Laryngeal Nerve during Transoral Robotic Thyroidectomy
Published on: October 24, 2025
[Personal and social identity transformations that occur over time among patients with total laryngectomy]
Emmanuel Babin1, Eric Edy, Arnaud Béquignon
1Service ORL et de Chirurgie Cervico-Faciale CHU, Caen, France. babin-e@chu-caen.fr
Objective:
To examine personal and social identity transformations that occur over time among patients treated for laryngeal carcinoma with total laryngectomy.
Method:
Patients with laryngectomy and their family underwent interviews by a sociologist and a head and neck surgeon.
Results:
The diagnosis of cancer fills the patient's mind with images of suffering and death. Their life trajectory is more often a downward spiral. Patients are so stigmatized by the neoplasic illness that they become marginal and live in social isolation.
Conclusion:
Being laryngectomized completely transforms patients' lives because this surgery induces their topple into the world of the disabled. Total laryngectomy has a negative connotation in our society. Therapists should take this reality into account and intensify their involvement before and especially after surgery.
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