Total laryngectomy - past, present, future

In a period in which therapeutic approaches for malignant laryngeal tumors are focused on the principle of "organ preservation", total laryngectomy is a well coded surgical procedure, addressed to the advanced laryngeal cancer which is not suitable for conservative techniques or in case of their failure. The main objective of this work is to summarize the important events that have marked the evolution of this surgical technique to the current formula. Also this paper aims to identify, in our own casuistry, some elements of strategy and surgical technique required, in our opinion, for a successful therapeutic intervention. The fundamental significance of the study is that we must learn from the past, perform our surgeries at contemporary standards and look to the future for new solutions and approaches of the advanced laryngeal malignancies.